How do I say "the reason why" or "the purpose of" in Japanese?


While studying this morning, I became interested in how to say "When you were
a child, did you read books for fun?" in Japanese.

In this case, would I use ため?

Or would it be something like this: スパに行く食べ物を買う…。

I guess I'm wondering how to state the purpose of doing something, how to use
ため, and also what are the differences in form are.




To say "As a child, Did you/I read books for fun" I would use

> 子供の時、趣味で読書をしていましたか？

〜で is simpler and the sentence flows better than 〜のために, which can be used to
mean the same thing. However, when I say

> 子供の時、趣味のために読書をしていましたか？

actually sounds a bit awkward, since 〜のために (or ため in general) literally
translates to "for" but it has a tiny bit of connotation to indicate whatever
is done is a requirement, or something purposefully done. The reason why the
specific example above sound a bit awkward to me is that your hobby is not
necessarily something you have to do; you naturally do it out of enjoyment. So
using 〜のため to indicate your purpose, I think, has an effect of emphasizing
your will to do that thing.

If instead the sentence is

> 昨日、仕事のために読書をしていましたか？

then the awkwardness goes away, since the reading was a requirement for the
job, something needed to be done by will.

