1
  1. 忘れ物をしました
  2. 忘れ物をしまったんです
  3. 忘れ物をしてしました
  4. 忘れ物をしてしまったんです

Are all these four expressions acceptable, what is the difference among them?

Improve this question
6
  • 1
    Unfortunally, 2 does not make sense...it means "I hid what I lost somewhere"...and 3 also.
    – user7644
    Jun 19, 2016 at 3:23
  • I editted in order for yours to make senses, but with clauses so that the original one remains.
    – user7644
    Jun 19, 2016 at 3:26
  • Okay. Naturo. I should not have editted because the questioner is asking "Are all these four expressions acceptable"... sorry for that.
    – user7644
    Jun 19, 2016 at 3:46
  • @KentaroTomono Privilege requirements have changed, so your edit didn't go through immediately anyway.
    – Blavius
    Jun 19, 2016 at 4:17
  • 4
    Hi, Welcome to JLSE. Perhaps you could give your question a more meaningful title instead of a generic one. This not only helps to frame the question, but makes it easier to find your question in future (via the search function).
    – Flaw ♦
    Jun 19, 2016 at 4:34

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

Among these, Sentences 1 and 4 are OK, but 2 and 3 are not.

  • 忘れ物 is a noun meaning "something someone forgot to bring", "something left behind (e.g. in a train)".
  • 忘れ物をする means "to forget to bring something", "to leave something behind (e.g., in a train)". Of course, it's a verb phrase.
  • The te-form of する is して.
  • しまう is a subsidiary verb which adds the nuance of "end up", "regrettably", "unfortunately" to the sentence. As a subsidiary verb, it must follow the te-form of another verb.
  • んです and のです have various meanings, but in a sentence like this, it explains something referring to the previous sentences, putting some emphasis on the statement ("It is that ...", "I'm saying this because ..."). んです is a colloquial variation of のです.

Sentence 1 is a plain, matter-of-fact description ("I forgot something (e.g., in the room)."). Sentence 4 is correctly using both しまう and のです structures, and sounds as if you were explaining your previous statement, with the "regrettable" feeling.

A: Oh, no!
B: Hey, what's happened?
A: 忘れ物をしてしまったんです。

Sentence 2 is incorrect because the subsidiary verb しまう is following a noun rather than another verb. (Well, しまう can also be used as a normal verb, so actually this sentence could mean something like "It's because I stored the lost items (eg, in the shelf)!" But that's not what you want to say, is it?)

Sentence 3 is incorrect because する is followed by another する. Perhaps you wanted to write 忘れ物をしてしまいました, which is probably the most common and natural way of reporting things like this to your teacher/boss?

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .