～せいで／せいか — Blame It On…
せいで attributes a negative result to a cause — 'because of…' (placing blame). せいか softens this to 'perhaps because…,' expressing an uncertain guess about the cause of a (usually negative) outcome. Both point to something as the source of an undesirable situation.
Structure
[Noun + の] / [Verb/Adj plain] + せいで／せいか
Examples
台風のせいで、電車が止まってしまった。
Taifuu no sei de, densha ga tomatte shimatta.
Because of the typhoon, the trains stopped.
台風のせいで blames the typhoon for the negative result
寝不足のせいか、頭が痛い。
Nebusoku no sei ka, atama ga itai.
Maybe because I didn't sleep enough, I have a headache.
せいか adds uncertainty — lack of sleep is a guessed cause
彼が遅刻したせいで、会議が始められなかった。
Kare ga chikoku shita sei de, kaigi ga hajimerarenakatta.
Because he was late, we couldn't start the meeting.
遅刻したせいで assigns blame for the failure to start
• せいで assigns blame for a negative result; せいか expresses a tentative guess. • Opposite of おかげで (thanks to), which is for positive results. • Noun connects with の (病気のせいで); verbs/adjectives use plain form.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～せいで／せいか is tested against.
vs ～おかげで
おかげで credits a cause for a positive/good outcome; せいで blames a cause for a negative/bad outcome.
vs ～ため(に)
ため(に) is a neutral, formal 'because'; せいで specifically assigns blame and carries a negative connotation.
More cause & effect
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