HSK 3 · Function Words

为了 wèile “in order to” in Chinese

Traditional 為了

What 为了 means

  1. in order to
  2. for sake of
  3. for purpose of
  4. for
  5. for the purpose of

How to say 为了

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale为wèi4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own了leneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

为了 in a sentence

  1. 她去意大利是为了学习音乐。

    Tā qù Yìdàlì shì wèile xuéxí yīnyuè.

    She went to Italy to study music.

    Sentence #2370668 from Tatoeba

  2. 他为了健康，戒烟了。

    Tā wèile jiànkāng, jièyān le.

    He gave up smoking for his health.

    Sentence #12420150 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 孩子去学校就是为了学习。

    Háizi qù xuéxiào jiù shì wèile xuéxí.

    Children go to school to learn.

    Sentence #902802 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 为了 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 为 (wèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
为wèibecause of
  • 丶dot · zhǔ
  • 力strength · lì
  • 丶dot · zhǔ
The character 了 (liǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
了lecompleted action marker
  • 乛part of the character
  • 亅hook · jué

How to write 为了

为 4 strokes · 了 2 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

为了 (wèile) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 为了 (wèile). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 为了

Words with 为

因为yīnwèi · because为什么wèishénme · why为wèi · for认为rènwéi · believe以为yǐwéi · to think (wrongly)成为chéngwéi · to become行为xíngwéi · action作为zuòwéi · as (in the role of)为期wéiqī · to last for (a period)人为rénwéi · man-made

Words with 了

了le · aspect particle了解liǎojiě · comprehend除了chúle · besides受不了shòubùliǎo · unbearable不得了bùdéliǎo · extremely了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing大不了dàbuliǎo · at worst一目了然yímùliǎorán · clear at a glance

More words: Particles & Connectors

或者huòzhě · or然后ránhòu · then如果rúguǒ · if为wèi · for先xiān · first向xiàng · direction像xiàng · be like一边yìbiān · one side

FAQs

为了 (wèile) means “in order to” or “for sake of”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it wèile: wèi with a 4th tone, then le with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 为了 is written 為了. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type weile with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 为了 from the suggestions. Typing weile into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
为了 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.