Learn Hardcore Japanese: watasi ha rainen ryuugakusuru tame ni pasupooto wo kousinsita. - I renewed my passport in order to study abroad next year.

In Japanese, は is the topic marker, setting the stage for what the sentence is about (“As for me…”). が is the subject marker, often used to introduce new or specific subjects. Here, “私” is already understood as the topic (“I”), so we use は to indicate “as for me, I renewed my passport…”.

What role does 来年 play, and why is there no particle after it?

来年 (“next year”) is a time adverbial, telling us when something happens. Japanese often places time expressions at the start of a sentence for clarity and allows them to appear without particles. While you could say 来年に in some contexts, it’s common and natural to drop に with words like days, months, years.

Why is the verb 留学する in its dictionary form before ために?

The pattern (dictionary form of verb) + ために means “in order to do (verb).” You attach 留学する directly in its dictionary form to ために to express the purpose: “in order to study abroad.”

Why must ため be followed by に in purpose clauses?

Here, ため is a noun meaning “sake” or “purpose.” To turn it into a purpose phrase, you need the particle に, which links the noun to the main action. So 留学するために literally means “for the purpose of studying abroad.”

What’s the difference between ために and ように when expressing purpose?

ために is used when the subject of both clauses is the same and the action is volitional (something you intentionally do).
Example: 私は勉強するために図書館へ行く。
ように is more for non-volitional outcomes, wishes, or so that something happens, often when you don’t have direct control.
Example: 雨が降らないように祈る。
In our sentence, renewing a passport is a deliberate action by the speaker, so ために is the correct choice.

Why does パスポート take the particle を here?

を marks the direct object of a transitive verb. Since パスポート is what’s being renewed (the object of 更新した), we use を to show that relationship.

Why is 更新した in the past tense?

The past tense した indicates that the action of renewing the passport has already been completed. It tells us the renewal happened before now.

Why does the main verb come at the end of the sentence?

Japanese follows a Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) word order. Verbs consistently come at the end, after any objects, adverbs, or purpose phrases.

Could we reorder the elements in this sentence?

Japanese is relatively flexible, but there’s a preferred order:

Time expressions (来年)
Purpose clauses (留学するために)
Objects (パスポートを)
Main verb (更新した)
You could move the topic 私は around, but scrambling the order of time/purpose/object often sounds unnatural.