auxiliary N4 common casual
〜ちゃう — colloquial 〜てしまう: do completely / end up ~ing
〜ちゃう ・ ちゃう
Builds on て形
Meaning
- casual てしまう — finish ~ing, or end up ~ing (often by mistake or with regret)
Key sentence
アイスを全部食べちゃった。
I ended up eating all the ice cream.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb (て-form, with て → ちゃ) | V-て → V-ちゃう; V-で → V-じゃう | 食べて → 食べちゃう; 飲んで → 飲んじゃう |
Variants
じゃう — the form after で-ending て-forms: 読んで → 読んじゃう, 死んで → 死んじゃう
Examples
アイスを全部食べちゃった。
I ended up eating all the ice cream.
宿題を忘れちゃった。
I went and forgot my homework.
もう読んじゃったの？早い！
You've already finished reading it? That was fast!
また電車に乗り遅れちゃった。
I missed the train again.
言いたいことを全部言っちゃいなよ。
Just go ahead and say everything you want to say.
Easily confused with
〜ちまう Both contract てしまう in casual speech. ちゃう is the common everyday form; ちまう is rougher and more masculine (やっちまった!). Same meaning, gruffer register. 〜てしまう ちゃう is simply the contracted, casual-speech form of てしまう — same completion and regret meanings, just spoken style. Use てしまう in writing and polite speech, ちゃう among friends.
See 〜ちゃう in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜ちゃう the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.