How to express feelings about a performed action?

Question

I am wondering how I express my feelings about an action that has already occurred/been performed.

For example, how would I state the following:

• I am happy to have returned home.
• I am sad that I missed the train.
• I am upset that I finished the apples.

My best guess for the first example is the following:
帰った【かえった】ことが嬉しい【うれしい】。

However, I am unsure about my usage of こと. If it is correct are there other ways of writing this kind of sentence that I should be aware of?

I know that の is also used for verb nominalisation but as far as I could find online that would be wrong since the two actions are being performed at different points in time, right?

Answer 1

Yes, your use of ～た + こと construction is correct. You can express the sentiment about an event that happened in the past at the moment of feeling.

• 家に帰れた［こと／の］‌がうれしい。
  ^{*Equivalent of "happy that --" is typically expressed with potential form, especially for the action of yourself.}
• 電車を逃【の】がした［こと／の］‌が残念だ。
• りんごを全部食べてしまったことにうろたえている。

However, the sentiment toward what has (just) happened is simply described with the successive function of te-form.

• 家に帰れてうれしい。
• 電車を逃がし（てしまっ）て残念だ。
• りんごを全部食べてしまってうろたえている。

Answer 2

How to express feelings about a performed action?

I am happy to have returned home.
I am sad that I missed the train.
I am upset that I finished the apples.

帰ったことが嬉しい is not wrong, but we don't really say it.

I think what you are looking for is ～してよかった, or ～できてうれしい.
This is the way we say it.

帰れて良かった, literally saying "It's good that I've been able to have come back."

電車に乗り遅れて悲しい。乗れなくて残念。It seems it's always natural to say ～して悲しい, ～してがっかり, ～できなくて残念。

食べてしまって自分が腹立たしい。
mm.. more realistically, it might be 食べてしまった。悲しい。