～にとって — From the Standpoint Of
Presents the person, group, or thing whose viewpoint or standard is used to judge or evaluate something. It answers 'for whom / from whose perspective is this the case?' The following statement is almost always an evaluation (important, difficult, precious, etc.).
Structure
[Noun] + にとって(は)
Examples
私にとって、家族が一番大切だ。
Watashi ni totte, kazoku ga ichiban taisetsu da.
For me, family is the most important thing.
Noun 私 + にとって sets 'me' as the viewpoint from which importance is judged.
外国人にとって、漢字を覚えるのは大変だ。
Gaikokujin ni totte, kanji o oboeru no wa taihen da.
For foreigners, memorizing kanji is tough.
外国人 + にとって frames the difficulty from foreigners' perspective.
この写真は彼女にとってかけがえのないものだ。
Kono shashin wa kanojo ni totte kakegae no nai mono da.
This photo is irreplaceable to her.
彼女 + にとって marks her as the one for whom the photo holds value.
• Almost always followed by an evaluative adjective or noun (important, hard, precious). • Common mistake: don't use にとって for the recipient of an action ('give X to someone') — use plain に for that; にとって only frames a viewpoint. • Can add は for contrast: 私にとっては.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～にとって is tested against.
vs に
Plain に marks a target/recipient of an action, while にとって specifically frames a subjective viewpoint for an evaluation.
vs として
として means 'in the role/capacity of', whereas にとって means 'from the standpoint of' — a perspective for judging, not a role being played.
More expressions
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