Chinese Lesson: expressing „for“ with 为

When you work for a company or do other sorts of physical (and even mental) activities for another party, you’re likely to use the Chinese preposition 为 (wèi). This character is often translated into English as “for,” but is sometimes unnatural or unnecessary, depending on the particular phrase. For example, the super common Mao-era phrase, 为人民服务 (wèi rénmín fúwù), “serve the people,” doesn’t need the word “for” in English.

 

Structure:

为 + Party + Verb / Adj.

 

Examples:

我们 都 为 你 高兴 。(wǒmen dōu wèi nǐ gāoxìng) = We are all happy for you.

你们 可以 来 为 我们 加油 。(nǐmen kěyǐ lái wèi wǒmen jiāyóu) = You guys can come to cheer us on.

这个 生日 蛋糕 是 为 你 准备 的 。(zhège shēngrì dàngāo shì wèi nǐ zhǔnbèi de) = This birthday cake has been prepared for you.

你 不 为 自己 的 孩子 担心 吗 ?(nǐ bù wèi zìjǐ de háizi dānxīn ma) = Aren’t you worried for your child?

谁 为 我 考虑 过 ?(shéi wèi wǒ kǎolǜ guo) = Who has ever considered me?

她 是 为 美国 政府 工作 的 。(tā shì wèi Měiguó zhèngfǔ gōngzuò de) = She works for the United States government.


Post time: Feb-19-2020