3 Ways to Express the Purpose of Actions in Japanese

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JAPANESE PURPOSE OF ACTION

Want to talk about why you’re doing something in Japanese?

For example, going to the store to buy bread, or working hard to get a promotion.

Today, we’re going to learn how to make a sentence that is used to state the purpose of an action.

PURPOSE OF ACTION WITH に AND に行く

First, let’s learn a special form to say “I’m going to somewhere to do something.”

The sentence structure is:

PATTERN

Place + に + Verb + に行く

But the verb has to be in the “masu-form” stem.

You conjugate the verb preceding に行く like you would for the masu-form.

Look at an example:

^{Toshyokan ni hon wo karini iku.}

図書館に本を借りに行く。

_{I’m going to the library to borrow a book.}

So to make the verb form for 借りる(kariru), you get rid of the る and put ます – except for this form, you then remove the masu and add に行く to the masu-form verb stem.

Another example:

^{Supa ni kaimono wo shini itta.}

スーパーに買い物をしに行った。

_{I went to shop at the supermarket.}

As you can see, you only change the last verb bit into its masu-form, so from 行くto 行きます.

And if you have to change the tense of the sentence you must only change the tense of the verb by changing 行きます to 行きました.

Do NOT say 借りましたに行きました。

If you want to put something extra, just conjugate the いく bit.

You can also use different forms of the verb 行く.

Take a look at some examples:

EXAMPLE	ROMAJI	ENGLISH
東京へなにしに行くの？	Tokyo e nani shi ni iku no?	What are you going to Tokyo for?
今夜餃子を食べに行きましょう！	Konya gyouza wo tabeni ikimashou.	Let’s go to eat Gyoza tonight.

PURPOSE OF ACTION WITH ため

For “in order to do something,” we use the word ため. It is used directly after the dictionary form of the verb.

For example:

PATTERN

Verb + ため + に

^{Yaseru tameni mainichi undou suru.}

やせるために毎日運動する。

_{I exercise every day in order to lose weight.}

So here, “in order to lose weight” is stated by using “lose weight” + ために.

Another example:

^{Hon wo yomu tameni kindoru wo katta.}

本を読むためにキンドルを買った。

_{I bought a Kindle to read books.}

You can also use this construction with nouns:

You just have to add “no” after the noun you want to use. So it becomes:

PATTERN

Noun + の + ために

For example:

^{Barentaindee ni kare no tameni keeki wo tsukutta.}

バレンタインデーに彼のためにケーキを作った。

_{On Valentine’s Day, I made a cake for my boyfriend.}

PURPOSE OF ACTION WITH ために…にいく

You’ll be surprised to know Place + に + Verb + に行く and ため + に can also be merged together!

So now when we’re talking about going somewhere to do something, you could say:

PATTERN

Verb + ために…にいく

But, in this case, only a dictionary-form verb is placed before ために instead of a noun.

For example:

EXAMPLE	ROMAJI	ENGLISH
医者になるために一生懸命勉強しています。	Isha ni naru tame ni isshoukenmei benkyoushite imasu.	I am studying very hard in order to become a doctor.
強くなるために毎日運動しています。	Tsuyoku ni naru tameni mainichi undou shite imasu.	I am exercising every day to become stronger.

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FAQs

How to express purpose of action in Japanese?

There are a variety of grammatical constructions you can use to express the purpose of your actions in Japanese, such as place に verb にいく、ため（に), and ために。。。に行く。

Check out the article to learn about them in more detail.

What does ため（に）express?

ために expresses the purpose of an action.

What does ために…にいく mean?

ために。。。にいく expresses going somewhere for the purpose of a particular action.

What does Place に Verb に行く（いく）mean?

Place にverb にいく expresses going somewhere to do something.

Where can I learn more Japanese Grammar?

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