For

We use for to talk about a purpose or a reason for something:

I’m going for some breakfast. I’m really hungry.

She leaves on Friday for a 15-day cruise around the Mediterranean.

I wear these old trousers for painting.

In questions we often use what … for instead of why to ask about the reason or purpose of something especially in informal situations:

What are you here for?

What are they doing it for?

We often use for to introduce the person or people receiving something:

She bought a teapot for her sister.

Mike Cranham and his staff at the hotel cook for 800 people a day, on average.

We use for with a period of time to refer to duration (how long something lasts):

There’s a lovely open-air pool near us. We usually go there for a couple of hours in the evenings when it’s warm enough.

After a negative we can use for and in with the same meaning. In is particularly common in American English:

I haven’t seen him in five years. (or for five years.)

We use for to refer to an exchange:

[sign in a food shop]

2 for £2 or £1.36 each. (Two for two pounds or one pound thirty-six each.)

I got 124 euros for 100 pounds at today’s exchange rate.

We sometimes use for as a conjunction meaning ‘because’. We use it in very formal, and often literary, contexts:

Chasing the white stag through the forests, never catching it, of course, for it is a creature of legend.

We often combine for with a verb to form a multi-word verb:

She’s been caring for her mother for years.

It’s not a good time to look for it now. We have to go.

You will find other multi-word verbs with for in a good learner’s dictionary.