～おかげで — Thanks To
Attributes a positive result to a cause — 'thanks to; owing to'. It expresses gratitude or a favorable outcome brought about by someone or something. Occasionally used sarcastically to blame something for a bad result, but the default nuance is positive appreciation.
Structure
[Verb・い-adj plain] + おかげで / [な-adj] + な + おかげで / [Noun] + の + おかげで
Examples
先生のおかげで合格できました。
Sensei no okage de goukaku dekimashita.
Thanks to my teacher, I was able to pass.
Noun 先生 + の + おかげで credits the teacher for the positive result of passing.
薬を飲んだおかげで、熱が下がった。
Kusuri o nonda okage de, netsu ga sagatta.
Thanks to taking the medicine, my fever went down.
Verb past 飲んだ + おかげで links the cause to a welcome outcome.
天気がよかったおかげで、旅行を楽しめた。
Tenki ga yokatta okage de, ryokou o tanoshimeta.
Thanks to the good weather, we could enjoy the trip.
い-adj past よかった + おかげで attributes the enjoyable trip to good weather.
• Default nuance is positive gratitude. • おかげさまで is a set humble phrase for 'thanks to you / thankfully'. • Can be ironic ('thanks a lot...') but context makes this clear.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～おかげで is tested against.
vs せいで
せいで blames a cause for a negative result; おかげで credits a cause for a positive result. They are polar opposites in nuance.
vs ため(に)
ため(に) is neutral about good/bad outcome; おかげで specifically frames the result as favorable and expresses gratitude.
More cause & effect
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