Andreas asked for a deeper explanation of 「ように」and 「ために」so I hit the books, and came up with this geeky explanation. let me know if you have any questions after this!

The difference between 「ように」 and 「ために」 can be a little tricky to get the hang of. In English, they both tend to translate into things such as “in order to” or “so that” or “for” and the like. I’ll give examples of the correct use of each, and then give some tips on how to know when to chose one or the other.

Let’s look at some examples of the usage of 「ために」

「コーヒー豆を買うためにスーパーに行った。」
“I went to the super market to buy (in order to buy) coffee beans”

「漢字を覚えるために『Remembering the Kanji』を買いました。」
“I bought “Remembering the Kanji” so that I could learn Kanji.”

「ビタミンCを摂るために毎日梅干しを食べている。」
“I eat Umeboshi (a pickled Japanese ume) every day to get my Vitamin C.”

The 「ために」in each of these sentences emphasizes that the reason something the speaker did, was to achieve the goal in the latter part of the sentence.

「ために」 is normally used only for things that are directly controllable by the speaker. For example in the examples above, the speaker can control whether or not he goes to the super market to buy beans. Likewise he can also control if he buys the book Remembering the Kanji, or eats Umeboshi. Examples of sentences that have “uncontrollable” clauses are introduced in the 「ように」section below.

「ように」is used especially for things which cannot be controlled by the speaker. Also, it is used when you are using a negative clause to describe something before using the 「ように」. Lastly it can also be used when the verb is in “potential” form. As in, 「買える」 or 「走れる」. I always learn better b example, so here we go.

「日本語を忘れないように日本語の新聞を読んでいる。」
“I read the Japanese newspaper so that I won’t forget Japanese.”

「彼女に怒られないように洗濯物を丁寧に干している。」
“I hang up the laundry (to dry) very carefully so my girlfriend doesn’t get mad at me.”

「パンがかびないように冷凍庫に入れてある」
“I put the bread in the freezer so that it won’t get moldy too quickly.”

「うまく乗り換えができるように階段に近い一番前の車両に乗りました。」
“I rode in the front train car so that I could change trains effectively.”

「パーティに間に合うようにタクシーで行きました」
“I took a taxi so that I would be on time for the party.”

In the first example sentence, we use 「ように」instead of 「ために」mainly because “forgetting something” is by nature something that the speaker cannot control. To say 「日本語を忘れないために毎日日本語の新聞を読んでいる。」would be incorrect. Also, 「わすれない」is the negative form of the verb 「わすれる」, and it is impossible to use 「ために」with the negative form of verbs.

The second example is 「ように」instead of 「ために」because the “girlfriend getting mad” is something that someone other than the speaker does. You cannot control (not really anyway, and anyway, not in this linguistic sense) what actions another person takes, so in these cases you can never use 「ために」. Again, this is also a negative verb, so this fact makes 「ために」inappropriate as well.

The third example is also a case of the negative verb.

The fourth example is a case of potential form. The verb 「できる」is automatically potential, so it takes 「ように」instead of 「ために」always.

The fifth example we have a verb that is uncontrollable by the speaker. The verb is 「間に合う」and means “to be on time”. You may be wondering why someone couldn’t control if they were on time or not, but in Japanese the verb “to be on time” is considered to be uncontrollable.

There are a few special verbs that are considered “uncontrollable” in Japanese, even if we may think of them being “controllable” in English, or whatever your native language may be. One of those verbs is 「間に合う」which means “to be on time”, or “arrive on time”. In Japanese, this verb is considered uncontrollable, so it will always take 「ように」and you will never (or at least shouldn’t!) hear 「会議に間に合うために新幹線に乗りました」 in modern Japanese. Instead, 「会議に間に合うように新幹線に乗りました。」should be said. This means, “I rode the bullet train so that I would be on time for the meeting.”

Another verb that is considered “uncontrollable” in Japanese is 「わかる」, which means “to understand”.

Regarding the nuance differences in 「ために」 and 「ように」, it’s a little hard to put it precisely, but if you ask me, I would say that 「ように」has more of a future tense, “preventative” feel to it than 「ために」, which is more direct connection as in, I did A, for B.

If anyone has questions about this, or specific examples they want explained, let me know in the comments and I’ll get your questions answered!

- Harvey