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〜だけに

all the more because; as you'd expect from

Plain form + だけに (な-adj + な · Noun + な / である)

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だけに says a result is stronger because of the circumstances: 期待していただけに、がっかりした, "precisely because I'd been looking forward to it, I was all the more disappointed".

The first half is a situation that intensifies the second. It works for disappointment, shock or joy: 高かっただけに、壊れたときはショックだった.

It also means "as you'd expect, given that": 十年日本に住んでいただけに、日本の事情に詳しい, "having lived in Japan for ten years, he knows it well, as you'd expect". In this use it overlaps with だけあって, which is only ever positive.

Compare ばかりに, which blames one thing for a bad result, and だけで, "just by".

Examples

  • 期待きたいしていただけに、がっかりした。

    Precisely because I'd been looking forward to it, I was all the more disappointed.

  • 彼かれは十年日本じゅうねんに住ほんにすんでいただけに、日本にほんの事情じじょうに詳くわしい。

    Having lived in Japan for ten years, he knows how things work there, as you'd expect.

  • 高たかかっただけに、壊こわれたときはショックだった。

    It was expensive, so it was all the more of a shock when it broke.

  • 若わかいだけに、覚おぼえるのが早はやい。

    Being young, they pick things up quickly, as you'd expect.

  • 一生懸命準備いっしょうけんめいじゅんびしただけに、合格ごうかくしたときは本当ほんとうにうれしかった。

    I'd prepared so hard that passing made me all the happier.

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