More on しまう

Awhile ago I did a post on the word しまう and how it can be combined with verbs to mean one of two things - either completing something and bringing it to a close, or expressing regret. Because it's more commonly used for the latter purpose, I'm going to focus on that in this post.

I was still having trouble understanding exactly what was being conveyed when this word was combined with another verb, so I posted a question in Tae Kim's group on Facebook. I received a few good answers that helped clear up the many meanings this word can express.

First, it's best to not think of the word solely as referring to "regret", because that limits it to your own actions that are in the past. In reality, it can be used to talk about future actions and express negative feelings towards someone else's actions. Here are a couple examples that were given:

まじっ！行ってしまうの？くそ！
Are you seriously thinking about going, you dumbass?!

あらっ！落としてしまった！
Oops, I dropped it!

As we can see, the first sentence is criticizing the future actions of somebody, expressing that there's something wrong with what they're going to be doing. The second expresses negativity towards what you just did, since you dropped something and dropping things is generally considered negative.

Now, let's look at another example sentence that I was struggling with.

もう帰っちゃっていい？
Is it okay if I went home already?

This person is doing far more than asking if it's okay to go home. With the ちゃって portion (which is the casual form of しまう, also in て form), the person is saying "I know it may inconvenience you if I go home, and I'm sorry for that, but if you could allow me to go home, I'd appreciate it. I'm sorry."

So in short, しまう used in this manner can express:

• Regret for what you've done
• Criticism of another's actions
• When things didn't go as expected
• Remorse for something you will do
• General negativity for an unintended action

I'm sure there are more contexts in which it's used, but this helps immensely in gaining a basic understanding of this word and what it means in its usage.