▎為, wèi, (Prep), Beneficiary Marker, beneficiary of an action

 

Function The literary preposition 為 introduces a beneficiary noun into the sentence, a noun which benefits from the context of the following verb phrase. The term ‘beneficiary’ can have many meanings.

(1) Recipient of the action. In this usage, the object of 為 seems to be the real object of the verb, e.g., (1) 為人民服務wèi rénmín fúwù ‘serve on behalf of the people’ (2) 為大家加油wèi dàjiā jiāyóu ‘root for everybody’ (3) 為農夫帶來許多好處wèi nóngfū dàilái xǔduō hǎochù ‘bring many advantages to farmers’.

(2) On behalf of. In this usage, the verbs are mostly state verbs, e.g., (1) 為孩子擔心wèi háizi dānxīn ‘worry for/about the children’ (2) 為家人難過wèi jiārén nánguò ‘feel bad for my family’ (3) 為朋友高興wèi péngyǒu gāoxìng ‘happy for my friend’.

(3) For the sake of. In this usage, something has been done for the benefit of someone, e.g., (1) 為他們買健康保險wèi tāmen mǎi jiànkāng bǎoxiǎn ‘buy health insurance for their sake’ (2) 為他翻譯wèi tā fānyì ‘translate for his sake’ (3) 為誰辛苦wèi sheí xīnkǔ ‘work hard for whose sake’.