connective N2 uncommon politewritten
〜ばかりに — simply because ~
〜ばかりに ・ ばかりに
Builds on 〜ばかり
Meaning
- simply because ~ / all because of ~ — one single cause that leads to an unfortunate, regrettable result
Key sentence
保証人になったばかりに、借金を背負うことになった。
Simply because I became a guarantor, I ended up saddled with debt.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb / い-adjective (plain), Noun + である, な-adj + な | V / Aい(plain) / Nである / な-adjな + ばかりに | 急いだばかりに / 正直なばかりに |
Examples
一言よけいなことを言ったばかりに、けんかになった。
All because I said one unnecessary word, it turned into a quarrel.
準備を怠ったばかりに、試験に落ちた。
Simply because I neglected to prepare, I failed the exam.
When you can't use it
- The result is almost always negative and regretted — 'and that one thing was enough to cause the trouble.' Using ばかりに for a happy outcome is unnatural.
Easily confused with
Notes
- Very close to せいで ('because of ~, with a bad result'). ばかりに sharpens it to 'just this one cause was all it took,' with a tone of regret over a small thing that snowballed.
See 〜ばかりに in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜ばかりに the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.