Meaning and tones of wei (为)

[Jan Finster]

I keep getting stuck at the tones and meaning of 为 when I read a text. How do you know immediately while reading a sentence what is stands for and if it is 2nd or 4th tone?

 

为      wèi    because of; for; to
为        wéi      as (i.e. in the capacity of); to take sth as;  to act as;  to serve as;  to behave as;  to become;  to be;  to do;   by (in the passive voice)

[Demonic_Duck]

It will probably help if you give some examples of 为 sentences you find difficult. Usually it's pretty unambiguous with enough context.

[Lu]

On 8/21/2023 at 7:06 AM, Jan Finster said:

immediately while reading a sentence

Usually the other character in the word makes it unambiguous.

[Jan Finster]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:44 AM, Demonic_Duck said:

It will probably help if you give some examples of 为 sentences you find difficult. Usually it's pretty unambiguous with enough context.

 

已经为八所项目幼儿园....

 

I guess our eyes will not go much further in the sentence the moment you see 为...so I skip the rest of the sentence....

[Lu]

In that case I read the sentence, then go back to the beginning to parse it, and usually on second read it's not hard. 为  looks like a wei4 to me here (We already provided xyz for eight kindergartens, something along those lines?)

[EnergyReaper]

First, practice more to be able to easily distinguish if 为 is a single-C word in the sentence, not a part of a combined word, like “因为”， “作为”，"成为", etc. In the case of 为 being a single-C word, or you are not sure if 为 is combined with some characters behind it but you are sure 为 is not combined with some characters before it, just pronounce wèi. Sometimes that's wrong, but it's no big deal.

Second, remember how to read idioms that contain “为”, like 为所欲为, 为今之计, 扭亏为盈, etc. There are more than 600. You should pick some usually used ones as a start.

[Jan Finster]

 

On 8/24/2023 at 3:09 PM, EnergyReaper said:

In the case of 为 being a single-C word, or you are not sure if 为 is combined with some characters behind it but you are sure 为 is not combined with some characters before it, just pronounce wèi.

 

Hmmm. I see lots of phrases, where I believe 2nd tone is correct, e.g: 

中国 咖啡 行业 市场 规模 为 3817 亿元....

 预计 2025 年 将 达 万亿元 ， 复合 增长率 为 27.3%....

 

Am I wrong? [ wéi  as in "to be"]

 

为        wéi      as ; to take sth as;  to act as;  to serve as;  to behave as;  to become;  to be;  to do;   by (in the passive voice)

 

[Lu]

On 8/26/2023 at 1:56 PM, Jan Finster said:

I see lots of phrases, where I believe 2nd tone is correct, e.g: 

中国 咖啡 行业 市场 规模 为 3817 亿元....

 预计 2025 年 将 达 万亿元 ， 复合 增长率 为 27.3%....

 

Am I wrong? [ wéi  as in "to be"]

I agree, it's wei2 in these sentences.

[Demonic_Duck]

On 8/26/2023 at 7:56 PM, Jan Finster said:

中国 咖啡 行业 市场 规模 为 3817 亿元....

 预计 2025 年 将 达 万亿元 ， 复合 增长率 为 27.3%....

 

Yeah, if it could be replaced with "是" then it's 2nd tone.

 

I think the "immediately getting it" thing will come with practice. I know that's not very useful advice, but as with many things, it takes a while before it becomes intuitive.

[EnergyReaper]

On 8/26/2023 at 7:56 PM, Jan Finster said:

中国 咖啡 行业 市场 规模 为 3817 亿元....

 预计 2025 年 将 达 万亿元 ， 复合 增长率 为 27.3%....

 

Am I wrong? [ wéi  as in "to be"]

You are right. Like what @Demonic_Duck said, when you practice more, you can quickly read it right intuitively. The hard thing is those phrases and idioms.

For example:

1、他总是为人着想，却忽略他自己的感受。

2、朋友们都说他为人正直。