How to use japanese verb te-form shimaimashita?

by Carol
(USA)

How to use Verb te-form しまいました?

How to use Verb te-form しまいました?

What is the difference between tabemashita and tabete shimaimashita? What is the purpose of changing the verb to te-form and then adding shimaimashita?

Reply:


There are basically two ways how you can use Japanese verb te-form shimaimashita. One is when you want to emphasize completion (of certain task) and another one is when you want to express regret or embarrassment (normally used for bad events).

1. When used for emphasizing completion

Example 1
Normally when you want to say you have eaten the whole cake, you will say...

私は昨日大きいケーキを全部食べました
watashi wa kinou ooki ke-ki wo zenbu tabemashita
Meaning: I have eaten the whole big cake yesterday.

Although 食べました (tabamashita) also indicate the completion of eating the whole cake, to emphasize that you have actually finished eating the whole cake, you can change the sentence to...

私は昨日大きいケーキを全部食べてしまいました
watashi wa kinou ooki ke-ki wo zenbu tabete shimaimashita

Example 2
When your father drank one whole bottle of whisky, you will usually say...

父はゆうべウイスキーを一本飲みました
chichi wa yuube uisuki- wo ippon nomimashita
Meaning: My father drank one whole bottle of whisky last night.

To emphasize that your father has actually finished up the whole bottle of whisky, you can change the sentence to...

父はゆうべウイスキーを一本飲んでしまいました
chichi wa yuube uisuki- wo ippon nonde shimaimashita

Example 3
When your sister read the whole book, you will normally say...

姉は先週この本を全部読みました
ane wa senshuu kono hon wo zenbu yomimashita
Meaning: My elder sister read this whole book last week.

To emphasize that your elder sister has actually completed reading this whole book, you can change the sentence to...

姉は先週この本を全部読んでしまいました
ane wa senshuu kono hon wo zenbu yonde shimimashita

In the above case where you want to emphasize the completion of certain task, the sentences are often used together with adverbs like...
a. 全部 (zenbu - all/whole)
b. もう (mou - already)
c. 終わりまで (owarimade - till the end)
d. amount like 一本 (ippon - one bottle)

2. When used for expressing regret or embarrassment

Example 1
If you want to say you have forgotten to do your homework, you will normally say...

私は今日宿題を忘れました
watashi wa kyou shukudai wo wasuremashita
Meaning: I forgot my homework today. (show no sign of regret from the sentence)

To show your regret or embarrassment, you can change the sentence to...

私は今日宿題を忘れてしまいました
watashi wa kyou shukudai wo wasurete shimaimashita

Example 2
If your brother has lost his wallet, you will usually say...

弟は今日財布を落としました
otouto wa kyou saifu wo otoshimashita
Meaning: My younger brother lost his wallet today.

Now this situation is slightly different from previous example where the event was not occurred to you. It's your younger brother who has encountered the event. Of course your younger brother was regretful and felt embarrassed for losing his wallet.

However even though this event was not occurred to you, you still show the sympathy you have on this event. Therefore in this case, you can also use verb te-form shimaimashita to show your sympathy towards others on the bad event occurred to them. Hence you can change the sentence to...

弟は今日財布を落としてしまいました
otouto wa kyou saifu wo otoshite shimaimashita

Example 3
If your mother overslept this morning, you will normally say...

母は今朝寝坊をしました
haha wa kesa nebou wo shimashita
Meaning: My mother overslept this morning.

To show your sympathy towards your mother's embarrassment, you can change the sentence to...

母は今朝寝坊をしてしまいました
haha wa kesa nebou wo shite shimaimashita

3. Using it in present tense

By the way, the dictionary-form of shimaimasu is しまう (shimau). Japanese verb te-form shimaimashita is not limited to only past tense like in the previous examples. You can use verb te-form shimaimasu to emphsize that you will complete the action in the future.

Example 1
五時までに本を読んでしまいます
goji made ni hon wo yonde shimaimasu
Meaning: I will finish reading the book by 5pm.

Example 2
If you are urging your son to finish his homework, you can say...

早く宿題をやってしまいなさい
hayaku shukudai wo yatte shimainasai
Meaning: Finish your homework quickly.

Example 3
明日までにそれを済ませてしまうべきです
ashita made ni sore wo sumasete shimau beki desu
Meaning: You ought to have done it by tomorrow.

Related Pages
1. Japanese verbs te-form
2. Explanation of several uses of the verb しまう(shimau) and Verb te-form shimau

Hope this helps,
Kia Leng

Comments for How to use japanese verb te-form shimaimashita?

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Sugoi !
by: Veena

Beautifully explained! Thanks a ton. Veena:)

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Great job explaining
by: Alaina

Excellent with explaining it is appropriate to use the past tense verses te and shimaimashita. I do have one question. I live in Japan and I notice a lot of people use the chatta, ちゃった, the conversational form of shimaimashita/shimatta. Would chatta then follow the same rules of usage as shimaimashita or do people sometimes add it to the sentence to make it sound girly or something?

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Great job explaining
by: Kia Leng

Hi Alaina,

As what you have mentioned in your question, ちゃった (chatta) is just the conversational form of shimaimashita/shimatta. Therefore, it would still follow the same rules of usage as shimaimashita.

Hope this helps.

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Meaning of yatte
by: Swati

Hi Kia Leng,

Thanks a ton for the clear explanation. Albeit, I have a question. I have heard the word yatte being used a lot. What does it mean? Is it used with other verbs, which ones are they and how are they used?

Thanks in advance for helping clarify this!

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明日までにそれを済ませてしまうべきです
by: Swati

In the last example sentence, shouldn't べきです actually be すべき です? Is it a typo error or am I incorrect?

Thanks again in advance!

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Meaning of yatte
by: Kia Leng

Hi Swati,

やって(yatte) is the te-form of やる(yaru), and やる(yaru) is the casual-form of する(suru). Therefore, してください(shite kudasai) is the same as やってください(yatte kudasai). Take note that it's often used by people of higher status to those of lower status (Parent to Children, Boss to sub-ordinates). So please be careful when using it.

Hope this helps.

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明日までにそれを済ませてしまうべきです
by: Kia Leng

Hi Swati,

the sentence pattern for べき is:
Verb (dict-form) べきです

For Group 3 verbs ending with する(suru), for example 勉強する(benkyou suru), it becomes 勉強するべきです. However, it's always shorten to 勉強すべきです.

But for other verbs (Group 1 and Group 2) which are not ending with する, you still have to follow the above sentence pattern. Hence, the one in your question is still ~済ませてしまうべきです.

Hope this helps.

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問題
by: Anonymous

じゃ、「しまいます」とか「ちゃった」とか「しまった」とか「じゃった」は同じ事ですか?使い方はどう?Can I use anyone?

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問題
by: Kia Leng

Hi,

「しまった」 is the casual form of 「しまいました」.

「ちゃった」and「じゃった」 are the casual form (conversational) of 「しまいました」.

Hope this helps.

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Thank you
by: Anonymous

Very useful and clear explanation. Thanks u so much!

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Great explanation
by: Aquino

Thank you, It helped me a lot! Matane

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しまいました。
by: Anonymous

Hi I still have a question what i studied is しまいました is used to show the work has been completed but unintentionally.
私が勉強したのはしまいましたを思わず仕事を完了したのときも使うことができます。
例えば。。。
母は七時ぐらいううちに帰ります。晩御飯を作っていました。そして母のために待っています。。。。
おなかがとてもすいているので。。
晩御飯を食べてしまいました。
where it is showing that i really wanted to wait for them but as i was very hungry i ate the meal intentionally..
Is it correct or not...??

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しまいました。
by: Kia Leng

Hi, as explained above, "て-form しまいました" mainly has two functions:
1. When used for emphasizing completion
2. When used for expressing regret or embarrassment

For the first function "emphasizing completion", I think the action can be intentional or unintentional.
Whereas for the second function "expressing regret or embarrassment", mostly it's action done unintentionally and you feel regret or embarrass after the action was done.

For you example, I would re-phrase as:
私は晩御飯を作りました。母は七時頃帰る予定ですが、お腹がとてもすいたので、母を待っている間に、つい晩御飯を食べてしまいました。

When using time, use 頃(ごろ) rather than ぐらい.

Hope this helps.

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What about the negative?
by: ニコラ

Can てしまう be used in the negative since for example, would 習わなくしまいました make sense as "I regret not learning," or does this form only apply in the positive?

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What about the negative?
by: Kia Leng

Hi ニコラ,

No, 習わなくしまいました make no sense to mean "I regret not learning. Moreover, 習わない is nai-form, no te-form.

Since there is no negative-form for te-form, there is no such use for negative-form of ~てしまう.

Hope this helps.
Kia Leng

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Not quite
by: Anonymous

なくて is the ーて form of ーない

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Not quite
by: Kia Leng

-> なくて is the ーて form of ーない

I am guessing you are asking a question. If it is, that's right. なくて is the て-form of ~ない.

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ない + てform
by: Anonymous

So, going on the なくて line of thinking, does this sentence make any sense?
まだ、宿題をしなくてしまいました

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ない + てform
by: Kia Leng

Hi, I think it's weird to connect なくて with しまいました. It's better to say something like 忘れてしまいました or 書かなくなってしまいました.

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Very useful
by: PH人

This article greatly helped me. It gave me immediate answer when I first encountered this expression.

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Very useful
by: Kia Leng

Hi PH人,

Thanks for your compliment of this article. I am glad that you find it helpful.

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Traducido un poco para el que habla español
by: Ruben

しまいました (PARA ENFATIZAR QUE ALGO SE COMPLETÓ)
Normalmente, cuando queremos decir que nos hemos comido todo un pastel, diríamos...

昨日私は大きいケーキを全部食べました。
Ayer me comí todo el pastel grande.

Aunque, 食べました también indica la finalización de comer todo el pastel, sin embargo, para enfatizar que realmente hemos terminado de comer todo el pastel, podemos cambiar la frase a...

昨私は日大きいケーキを全部食べてしまいました。
Ayer me comí todo el pastel grande.

De modo que para enfatizar que algo se completó, las frases llevan adverbios como:
もう、全部

しまいました (Cuando se usa para expresar arrepentimiento o vergüenza)
Si queremos decir que nos hemos olvidado de hacer los deberes, normalmente diríamos...

今日私は宿題を忘れました。
Hoy he olvidado los deberes. (no mostramos ningún signo de arrepentimiento en la frase)

Para mostrar nuestro arrepentimiento o vergüenza, podemos cambiar la frase por...

今日私は宿題を忘れてしまいました。
Hoy he olvidado los deberes.

///////////////////////////
Muchas gracias bro, tu publicación es muy útil.

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