Grammar Info

N1 Lesson 5: 3/17

べくして

As expected, Meant to, Supposed to, Destined to, Sure to

Structure Legend

Structure

(Intransitive) Verb[る]+ べくして + (Intransitive) Verb1[る](1)
Verb[られる][る]+ べくして + Verb[られる][る](1)

(1)Verb[られる][た]

Details

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    Formal

  • 使用域

    硬い

About べくして

べくして is a combination of the conjunctive form of the classical auxiliary verb べし, べく, and the conjunctive particle して, which shows a situation from which a logical determination can be made, or will be a natural course of action. べく itself indicates the word that it is attached to as a 'purpose' or 'end goal'. べくして is often translated simply as 'as expected of (A), (B)', or 'as was supposed to (A), (B)'. (A) and (B) will be the same verb repeated.
  • 彼女(かのじょ)らはここ2年間(ねんかん)毎日(まいにち)文句(もんく)()わずにトレーニングしてきたから、大会(たいかい)()べくして()ったんだ。
    These girls have trained every day for the last two years without complaint, so as expected they won the competition.
  • 役所(やくしょ)には何回(なんかい)もここに()まれの標識(ひょうしき)設置(せっち)するように(うった)えたが対応(たいよう)してくれなかったので、この事故(じこ)()こるべくして()こった。
    We have asked the city office multiple times to install a stop sign here, but they never listened to us, so this accident was expected.
  • 最近(さいきん)彼女(かのじょ)とは出会(であ)べくして出会(であ)ったと(かん)じることが(おお)い。
    Recently, I have been feeling that we were destined to meet.
The literal meaning of 'as determined with the purpose of (A)' may also be used if it helps to remember the nuance. This expression is quite formal, so will rarely be heard in daily speech.
Fun Fact
As mentioned in other grammar patterns that contain variations of べく such as べき and べし, this structure derives from the kanji (), which is usually translated as 'permissible' or 'allowed'. All 可 really indicates is a situation that does not currently exist, but it certain to come about as a part of the most logical course of events.

Examples

  • タイトル:「(おれ)青春(せいしゅん)ラブコメはまちがいになるべくしてなった。」

    Title: 'As expected, my romantic youth comedy was a blunder.'

  • (こわ)れた一時停止(いちじていし)標識(ひょうしき)放置(ほうち)した結果(けっか)()こるべくして()こった交通事故(こうつうじこ)だ。

    As expected, the result of neglecting a broken stop sign was a traffic accident.

    起こる is the most common expression used with べくして.

  • これらの二人(ふたり)は、専門分野(せんもんぶんや)年齢(ねんれい)(とも)(ちか)ゆえに出会(であ)べくして出会(であ)った()えるだろう。」

    As expected, one can say that these two met because they both shared fields of expertise and were close in age.

  • 不景気(ふけいき)(いな)かにかかわらず、高品質(こうひんしつ)適正価格(てきせいかかく)商品(しょうひん)()れるべくして()れている

    Regardless of whether there is a recession or not, products of good quality and reasonable price are sure to sell.

    When べくして is not referring to the past, it is not used to describe a particular event, but something the speaker or writer sees as a general truth.

  • 好景気(こうけいき)(おそ)かれ(はや)かれ()わるのは経済学者(けいざいがくしゃ)にとって当然(とうぜん)のことであったし、そうなるべくしてなった

    To the economists, it was only natural that prosperity will end sooner or later, and, as expected, that's what happened.

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