归咎于
Reach for 归咎于 when you want to formally pin blame for a bad outcome on a specific cause — economic damage, an accident, a failed policy. It's the verb editorials and analysts use for 'attribute the blame to' or 'lay the fault at the feet of.' The flavor is always negative: you never 归咎于 success, only problems, losses, and failures. Save it for written register and news commentary; in conversation, people say 怪 or 都是因为 instead.
Structure
把 [PROBLEM] 归咎于 [CAUSE]
guī jiù yú
How to Think About It
归咎于 is a one-way arrow that points blame at a target. The 于 is fixed and non-negotiable — it's the preposition glued to the verb, the same 于 you see in 来自于, 致力于. Think of 归咎于 as a courtroom verb: someone has already decided this thing is bad, and now they're formally assigning responsibility for it.
Examples
他把公司的亏损归咎于市场环境。
Tā bǎ gōngsī de kuīsǔn guījiù yú shìchǎng huánjìng.
He blamed the company's losses on the market environment.
不要把所有问题都归咎于别人。
Bùyào bǎ suǒyǒu wèntí dōu guījiù yú biérén.
Don't blame all your problems on other people.
专家把这次事故归咎于人为失误。
Zhuānjiā bǎ zhè cì shìgù guījiù yú rénwéi shīwù.
Experts attributed this accident to human error.
Common Mistake
Learners drop the 于 because 归咎 feels like a complete verb. It isn't. 归咎 without 于 leaves the cause dangling and the sentence ungrammatical in standard written Chinese.
他把失败归咎中国的政策。
他把失败归咎于中国的政策。
Don't Confuse With
怪
Colloquial 'to blame.' Use 怪 in speech ('别怪我'), 归咎于 in essays and news analysis.
归功于
Same structure, opposite polarity. 归功于 attributes credit for a good outcome; 归咎于 attributes blame for a bad one.
由于
由于 just states a cause neutrally ('due to'). 归咎于 actively assigns blame and implies someone is at fault.
Practice
他把失败____于运气不好。
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归咎
媒体把这场危机归咎____政府的决策。
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于
Arrange: 归咎于 / 他 / 天气 / 把 / 迟到
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他把迟到归咎于天气。
Translate: He blamed the loss on the coach.
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他把这场失利归咎于教练。
Write one sentence using 把……归咎于…… about a recent news story.
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分析师把股市下跌归咎于央行的加息决定。
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 1 Fluentide episode: