N1 Purpose and Means

~んがために: meaning, usage and examples

~んがために means: in order to... (strong, often extreme, purpose).

Updated 9 November 2026 · By the My Senpai team · Spotted a mistake? Tell us

Examples

1. 夢ゆめを実現じつげんせんがために、彼かれは故郷こきょうを離はなれた。

   In order to make his dream a reality, he left his hometown.

2. 金きんメダルを取とらんがために、血ちのにじむような努力どりょくをした。

   He made a painstaking effort in order to win the gold medal.

3. 自みずからの責任せきにんを逃のがれんがために、彼かれは平然へいぜんと嘘うそをついた。

   To escape his own responsibility, he lied without batting an eye.

4. 視聴しちょう率りつを上あげんがために、番組ばんぐみは過激かげきな演出えんしゅつを繰くり返かえした。

   To boost its ratings, the show kept resorting to extreme stunts.

When to use it

Expresses a very strong, single-minded purpose: in order to achieve X, at any cost. Example: 勝かたんがために、ルールを破やぶった (he broke the rules just to win). It often appears when the writer views the means as excessive or the motive as self-serving, but it can also describe great effort toward a dream.

Nuance

Literary and stiff; used in written commentary, novels and formal speeches, not in conversation. It frequently carries criticism of the means. Like べく, the main clause is an intentional action, never a request. The forms 言いわんばかり and んがため share the classical ん (= う, will).

Compare

んがために is the strongest purpose form: 売うらんがための広告こうこく (an ad made only to sell). べく is formal but neutral: 売上うりあげを伸のばすべく努力どりょくする. ために is the everyday version. Use んがために when the purpose seems to justify extreme means.

Tip: Build it from the ない-stem: 取とる → 取とらんがために, 行いく → 行いかんがために. The one exception is する → せんがために.