～ばかりに

About

～ばかりに is a combination of the ばかり and に particles and can attach to the plain forms of verbs/い-adjectives, or to nouns and な-adjectives using either な or である.

～ばかりに is used to express that "Y negative outcome" is "merely because of X regrettable action/state/etc.".

E.g. たつやは寝坊ねぼうしたばかりに、試験しけんを受うけられなかった。 "Simply because he slept in, Tatsuya wasn't able to take the test."

E.g. 親おやが反対はんたいしているばかりに、留学りゅうがくできずにいます。 "Simply because my parents are against it, I'm not able to study abroad."

E.g. 背せが低ひくいばかりに、舞台ぶたいが何なにも見みえなかった。 "Just because I'm short, I couldn't see the stage at all."

E.g. バレーが下手へたなばかりに、彼女かのじょに振ふられてしまった。 "She dumped me just because I'm bad at volleyball."

E.g. 複雑ふくざつであるばかりに、思おもったよりも時間じかんがかかってしまった。 "It took more time than I thought just because it was complicated."

～ばかりに emphasizes that the negative outcome was a result of only a single factor, or the result of a seemingly inconsequential factor, and is therefore most commonly translated as "just because" or "simply because".

Summary

• 

  ～ばかりに is a combination of the ばかり and に particles

• 

  ～ばかりに can attach to the plain forms of verbs/い-adjectives, or to nouns and な-adjectives using either な or である

• 

  ～ばかりに is used to express that "Y negative outcome" is "merely because of X regrettable action/state/etc."

• 

  ～ばかりに emphasizes that the negative outcome was a result of only a single factor