Credit and blame

Conjugations, Stage 3chunk 1 of 5Grammar patterns

Say what helped, what's to blame, and excuse yourself.

• -okage dethanks to
• -no sei debecause of (blaming)
• -no sei ni surublame it on
• -mon dakarabecause, you see (giving an excuse)
• -kara kosoprecisely because; it's because ... that

Mix-ups okage de is for good results, no sei de for bad ones.

-okage de

〜おかげで

thanks to

For a good result; the helper comes first.

Make it noun + no okage de; plain-form clause + okage de

'okage sama de' is the set reply to 'how are you / how did it go?': 'fine, thanks'. For a bad result use no sei de.

casualPlay

kimi no okage de maniatta yo

Thanks to you, I made it in time.

君のおかげで間に合ったよ

politePlay

minasan no okage de maniaimashita

Thanks to all of you, we made it in time.

皆さんのおかげで間に合いました

Rank #634 in 3,030 TV dramas

-no sei de

〜のせいで

because of (blaming)

For a bad result, pinning it on the cause.

Make it noun + no sei de; plain-form clause + sei de

'X no sei da' means 'it's X's fault': 'watashi no sei?' (is it my fault?). Compare okage de for good results.

casualPlay

kaze no sei de zenzen nemurenakatta

I couldn't sleep at all because of this cold.

風邪のせいで全然眠れなかった

politePlay

kaze no sei de zenzen nemuremasen deshita

I couldn't sleep at all because of my cold.

風邪のせいで全然眠れませんでした

Rank #748 in 3,030 TV dramas

-no sei ni suru

〜のせいにする

blame it on

The person or thing blamed goes before no sei; often a complaint about unfair blame.

Make it noun + no sei ni suru

Polite -no sei ni shimasu

'watashi no sei ni shinaide' = don't put it on me. Pairs with no sei de, 'because of'.

casualPlay

nandemo hito no sei ni suru na yo

Don't blame everything on other people.

何でも人のせいにするなよ

politePlay

nandemo hito no sei ni shinaide kudasai

Please don't blame everything on others.

何でも人のせいにしないでください

Rank #3243 in 3,030 TV dramas

-mon dakara

〜もんだから

because, you see (giving an excuse)

Explains why something went wrong, usually your own slip, in a soft, apologetic way.

Make it plain form + mon dakara (noun or na-adjective + na mon dakara)

Polite -mono desu kara

Also mon de: 'isogashikatta mon de'. It sounds like an excuse, so use -kara or -node for a neutral reason.

casualPlay

kyuu ni ame ga futte kita mon dakara, okurechatta

It suddenly started raining, so I ended up late.

急に雨が降ってきたもんだから、遅れちゃった

politePlay

kyuu ni ame ga futte kita mono desu kara, okurete shimaimashita

It suddenly started raining, so I'm afraid I was late.

急に雨が降ってきたものですから、遅れてしまいました

Rank #3397 in 3,030 TV dramas

-kara koso

〜からこそ

precisely because; it's because ... that

Stresses that this reason is the real point, often turning a seeming drawback into the reason.

Make it plain form + kara koso

Compare kara tte, 'just because ... doesn't mean'. Koso alone stresses the word before it: 'kochira koso' (likewise, the pleasure's mine).

casualPlay

taisetsu da kara koso, hakkiri iu n da yo

It's precisely because you matter that I'm being blunt.

大切だからこそ、はっきり言うんだよ

politePlay

taisetsu da kara koso, hakkiri iu n desu

It's precisely because you matter to me that I'm being frank.

大切だからこそ、はっきり言うんです

Rank #3375 in 3,030 TV dramas