English translation:
for, for the sake of, in order to
Structure
Verb[る] + ため(に)
Noun + の・ ため(に)
Could anybody please explain how I know if I have to use ため or ために in a sentence?
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You cannot, since it can be used as “in order to” with verbs only. The verb expresses something that is desired but beyond speaker’s/writer’s control - “so that”. So it is used mostly with negative verbs and verbs in potential form.
Like:
失火の場合に家の中で火が燃え広がらないように、消火器を買いました。
I bought a fire extinguisher so that the fire won’t spread in house in case of fire.
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This grammar point seems to imply that ため is only followed by に or no particle. All the sentence examples use に. But I believe that it can also be used with の and have the same meaning “for”.
Examples:
- 地方の道路整備のための財源確保が必要です。 - Sentences - Japanese Dictionary Tangorin
- 軟木の絶縁された部屋およびよいヒーターはサウナのための絶対必要である。 - Sentences - Japanese Dictionary Tangorin
I don’t know if this grammar point should be updated or if this is a different grammar point, but I don’t think there is anything about ための on bunpro yet.
2 Likes
@shary
You are spot on! To be honest I was sure we had ため + の + Noun covered!
I have added to the to-do list.
I think updating the grammar point will be most beneficial 
Cheers!
君のため何でもするよ。なぜなら、愛しているから。
Came across this sentence in review today, the usage of から here seems to be redundant given the sentence begins with なぜなら. Am I missing some context here as to why から should still be used?
i’m a big dumb idiot, i completely forgot that tyvm. you would think given that i have the point at 10/12 i would have had that memorized but alas…
I don’t understand why the bottom one uses に and the other one told me not to upon answering with it. Isn’t it the exact same usage?
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@Yryrdz
Hey!
They are a bit different!
In case of the former, お金のためだけに仕事をするのは辛いです。you have a compound “only for (money)”. If we want to say only in Japanese, we use だけ.
お金____だけに仕事をするのは辛いです。Now, given this sentence, we know that we miss “for” (ため), to get “only for” we are asked for. For that we need some knowledge about the structure, that is - if we attach Noun to だけ- we don’t need any particle between them. Technically speaking, ため is a Noun, so we get ためだけに, and as we know, we need の to attach a Noun to ため, so we get お金のためだけに.
This is all.
We could change the order a bit, to get a natural alternative sentence:
お金だけのために仕事をするのは辛いです。(“only for” vs “for only”)
The “only for” the part, that is だけのために or のためだけに modifies together the rest of the sentence.
In the latter case, that is 老後のためにちゃんと貯金しておかなければならない we only need “for”, so we can just write 老後のために which modifies (describes) the rest of the sentence.
I hope it helps,
Cheers! 
5 Likes
This helps a ton! Thank you very much.
2 Likes
It appears that nothing has changed since the initial request? I think the grammar point should be updated.
日本語能力試験に受かるために 頑張って勉強している。
I am studying hard in order to pass the JLPT.
Since I just fell for that: It’s 受かる, not 受ける, so “to pass” is correct.