0

I had learned that 为 'for the purpose/sake of' took the reading 'wèi'. However, I have seen several instances of 'wéi' being used to mean the same thing. Are these readings interchangeable or is 'wéi' incorrect?

In a textbook, I saw the following, '...为 (wéi), 为了 (wèile) and 因为 (yīnwèi)? In general, 为 (wèi) is usually translated as “for”...'

and, on a website, I saw, '为 wéi 'for the purpose, sake of' is placed before the objective, i.e., 'pleasure and profit'. 为消遣和盈利而养龙。 [Wèi xiāoqiǎn hé yínglì ér yǎng lóng.] - raising dragons for fun and profit'

In 为...而... constructions, I have seen the following:

为民而死 [Wèi mín ér sǐ.] - Die for the people. 为中国而战 [Wéi zhōngguó ér zhàn.] - Fight for China. 为自己而学 [Wéi zìjǐ ér xué.] - Learn for yourself.

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    When 为 [wèi] is used as a preposition, it has the meaning of "for; for the benefit of". So 为 is pronounced "wèi" in all of your examples.
    – r13
    Mar 9 at 17:17

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
0

I am inclined to think that the use of 'wéi' in the examples given is incorrect but, as a beginner, I do not want to make that assumption.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    As a native speaker I agree that in Standard Mandarin it should be wei4 in your last two examples, though in my dialect people tend to use wei2 instead of wei4. I guess it's not uncommon in other dialects. It's possible that whoever wrote those were under the influence of their own dialect.
    – lilysirius
    Mar 9 at 5:07
  • "作为[wéi]消遣和盈利而养龙。", here 为 means "the conduct as". It differs from "为[wèi]消遣和盈利而养龙,", in which, 为 means "for the purpose of". Hope this helps.
    – r13
    Mar 10 at 18:43
  • (a) 作为[zuòwéi]消遣和盈利而养龙。(b) 为[wèi]消遣和盈利而养龙。Those are 2 different sentences in their structures and have close but different meanings.
    – PdotWang
    Apr 11 at 22:37
0

Your question is, whether or not the word 为 'wéi' (second tone) could mean 'for the purpose/sake of', as the word 为 'wèi' (fourth tone) does.

My answer is NO. There is no chance for them to be exchangeable.

(1) 为 (wéi), to be, as, 为人师表， behave well as a teacher of others. 以人为本， take the people's interests as the primary.

(2) 为 (wèi), for someone, for something， or some purpose, 为人民服务 serve the people (do services for the people). 为虎作伥， To become a ghost that works for the tiger (guides the tiger to his village to eat other people).

为 (wèi) ... 而 (ér), to do something for someone or some purpose, 为自由而奋斗， fight for freedom. 他为养家而打两份工， he works two jobs for the living of his family.

为了 (wèile), same as 为 (2). 为了按时完成项目，我每天工作12个小时。I work 12 hours a day to be able to complete the project on time.

因为 (yīnwèi) is connected with a reason, 因为火车晚点，我没有赶上飞机。 Because the train comes late, I missed my airplane. This is usually an answer to 为什么 （why)。

为 is one of the most important words which has a lot of applications. Please see the following link.

https://www.archchinese.com/chinese_english_dictionary.html?find=%E4%B8%BA

Improve this answer
0

I think the confusion is due to the fact that both "wèi" and "wéi" can be a proposition, however, they are not the same and, correctly speaking, they are not interchangeable (though mistakes are not rare).

  • "wèi" [for] - 为此 (for this); 为何 (for what/what for/why); 为了 (for the sake of)

  • "wéi" [by] - 不为情愁 (not to be saddened by the love affair); 为我所用 (to be used by me)

https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E4%B8%BA

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.