せいで (seide) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Because of

The expression せいで (seide) means because of, due to, or also sometimes because.

せいで is used to blame a fault or mistake that led to a negative event or consequence.

In this post we learn more about the meaning of せいで, how it is formed, and when せいで is used through real example sentences.

How せいで is formed

The expression せいで can follow nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Remember to add the 連(れん)体(たい)形(けい) (attributive form) for nouns and adjectives in な using の and な before せいで respectively:

The expression せいで comes from the kanji 所為(せい), which means blame, consequence, error

Let's now look at some examples of conjugations for each category listed above:

How and when to use せいで

せい is used to express a negative result or consequence caused by someone's or something's behavior or action. For this reason せい is translated as fault, cause, because of.

In this example せいで indicates that my mistake(私(わたし)のミス) was the cause of the team's defeat.

The form てしまう (負(ま)まけてしまった) is used to indicate that the result is not what was expected, and that the action was not intentional. For this reason てしまう is very commonly used after せいで

The particle で is used to indicate the cause that led to the negative result: で can be translated as via, through, by means of (associated with せい fault the expression becomes literally through the fault of ...).

せいで connects two sentences together in a cause / effect relationship: the first sentence indicates the cause (with せいで), while the second indicates the (negative) effect

せいで to blame someone

せいで is also used to blame someone for an error or negative result:

せいで is similar to だから in its meaning of "because", but with a negative connotation

おかげで to express a positive result

The expression おかげで has the same meaning as せいで but for positive situations and results. おかげで is translated as thanks to.

おかげで comes from the term お陰(かげ), where kanji 陰 means shadow

Examples of せいで