がんばっちゃう

[thegooseking]

みんなさん、おはよう

I've encountered this word, がんばっちゃう and I'm having difficulty figuring out what it means.

Obviously the dictionary form is がんばる, "to persevere". I know that っちゃう is an abbreviation of てしまう, but this is where I get confused.

Fairly obviously it doesn't mean "I'm unintentionally trying my best" because, well, trying your best or working hard is not something you can do unintentionally, right?

I know that てしまう can also mean "to finish doing" or "to do completely". Can this sense also be abbreviated to っちゃう? Maybe "I'm completely trying my best" or "I've finished trying my best"?

Any ideas?

小狼

[mmmason8967]

I know that てしまう can also mean "to finish doing" or "to do completely". Can this sense also be abbreviated to っちゃう? Maybe "I'm completely trying my best" or "I've finished trying my best"?

Yes, I think it works just like ～てしまう, although I've a feeling that it can sound kind of girly or childish. In this case I thinks it's being used to mean "completely" so that the overall result is something like "I'll try my very best". Or perhaps it should be more youthfully emphatic, like "I will totally give it my best shot".

マイケル

[thegooseking]

Thanks マイケルさん.

That was what I was leaning towards, and I did think it might sound a bit cutesy, but I wasn't at all certain, because it seemed to rely on completely/totally having the same idiomatic sense in Japanese as it does in English, which wasn't something I just wanted to assume...

小狼

[Tracel]

Fairly obviously it doesn't mean "I'm unintentionally trying my best" because, well, trying your best or working hard is not something you can do unintentionally, right?

I know that てしまう can also mean "to finish doing" or "to do completely". Can this sense also be abbreviated to っちゃう? Maybe "I'm completely trying my best" or "I've finished trying my best"?

Yes, I think it works just like ～てしまう, although I've a feeling that it can sound kind of girly or childish. In this case I thinks it's being used to mean "completely" so that the overall result is something like "I'll try my very best". Or perhaps it should be more youthfully emphatic, like "I will totally give it my best shot".

My dictionary tells me that this contraction can be both masculine or feminine in its uses. I have heard the contraction used by both male and female characters in animes for example.

Although I am not sure whether the verb ganbaru has　this　connotation,　てしまう　can　also　mean　'regret'　and　not　just　'completion'. The meanings depend heavily on context.

Someone did something they shouldn't have done:
1. ジェリーはペギーのケーキをたべてしまった。
Jerry (mistakenly) ate Peggy's cake.
２．私は違うバスに乗ってしまった。
I got on the wrong bus.
３．ここでおいておくとジムが食べてしまうよ。
If you leave it here, Jim will eat it （up).

So, because the expression is in the present/future tense, がんばっちゃう could mean "I will give it my best shot". But I think it could also have a slight negative connotation, depending on the context: "Oh, whatever, I will try my best OK." If it is an answer to a request: "I need you to really try hard, OK?", then "I will give it my 'all'".

Hope this helps,

トラ

[mmmason8967]

My dictionary tells me that this contraction can be both masculine or feminine in its uses. I have heard the contraction used by both male and female characters in animes for example.

As I understand it, there are some uses of ちゃう that are OK and other uses that are rather cute or childish, but I don't have any clear idea of what's OK and what isn't.

To be honest, しまう is one of those things that I can more-or-less deal with when I come across it but which doesn't leap to mind as a possibility when I'm trying to write or speak Japanese myself. I suspect that that's a pretty good sign that I don't really get it. The way I think it works is like this (criticism and corrections welcomed, of course):-

Completion. Sometimes しまう just means to finish something, without any negative nuances. If a teenager says:-

宿題をしてしまった。
shukudai wo shite shimatta.
I've finished my homework.

...I'm pretty sure that the teenager isn't feeling very regretful about it.　It's just a statement of fact.

Suffering Active. Well, it is quite a bit like the Suffering Passive we were discussing recently . An example might be something like this:-

財布を落としてしまった。
Saifu wo otishite shimatta.
I lost my wallet.

To me this says basically the same thing as 「財布を落とした」 (saifu wo otoshita). Obviously it doesn't mean "I've finished losing my wallet", so the しまった (shimatta) must be there to give the sentence the nuance of regret. In other cases it isn't so clear-cut:-

ケーキを全部食べてしった。
Keeki wo zenbu tabete shimattta.
I ate all of the cake.

Whether that's a case of "suffering active" or just a straightforward statement of fact depends very much on context.

The Unexpected. しまう can also emphasise that something is unexpected rather than regrettable. This is the sense that has caused me the most trouble. It's probably easiest to show you the very sentence that caused the trouble:-

電車の中でつい幽体離脱してしまい、乗り過ごしました。
Densha no naka de tsui yuutairidatsu shite shimai, norisugoshimashita.
I had an out-of-body experience on the train and missed my stop.

Obviously shimai isn't being used to mean that I finished having the out-of-body experience. And if anything is regrettable, it's missing my stop, so if the sentence was supposed to express a regrettable/unfortunate nuance, it should have been norisugosu that was conjugated with shimau. So in this case I think shimau is emphasising the idea that an out-of-body experience is something you don't normally expect on a train journey.

Comments, corrections and clarifications are very welcome!

マイケル

[Tracel]

Ha ha. Don't you just love Japanese? Thank you マイケルさん for the explanations. They helped me a lot.
I agree that te shimau is one of those grammar points that does not have a tidy translation into English sometimes.

For the 'suffering active phrase', I have used the English phrase 'ended up ....' for some of the nuances. It works for me, but I don't know if it is a colloquial use of English on my part that gives me the 'oh darn it' feel to the sentence. The context would, of course, clarify the meaning. So for your 'wallet' sentence I would say.

財布を落としてしまった。
Saifu wo otishite shimatta.
I ended up losing my wallet. (gosh darn-it)

And for the 'cake' sentence, it gives the nuance of 'not the best outcome'.

ケーキを全部食べてしまった。
Keeki wo zenbu tabete shimattta.
I ended up eating all of the cake. (oops, it was so good I just couldn't stop myself) Context would tell us if someone asked "what the heck happened to the cake that I baked?" --> negative. Or maybe "The cake is all gone so it must have tasted good". --> maybe positive.

Where on Earth did you get the sentence:

電車の中でつい幽体離脱してしまい、乗り過ごしました。
Densha no naka de tsui yuutairidatsu shite shimai, norisugoshimashita.
I had an out-of-body experience on the train and missed my stop.

You could also use the 'ended up' translation here. Now, I haven't gotten this translation from any specific dictionary, but for me it seems to fit somehow with the sense of the situation. I think I may have learned this from a prof at some point, but I can't be sure. Sorry.

電車の中でつい幽体離脱してしまい、乗り過ごしました。
"I ended up having an out-of-body experience on the train, and I missed my stop. "

トラ

[community.japanese]

子狼さん、マイケルさん、トラさん、
こんにちは。Thank you for another productive thread!

Before getting to the main issue...

電車の中でつい幽体離脱してしまい、乗り過ごしました。

This sentence made me laugh!

Anyway....
I know all three of you have a great understanding of Japanese language and know how to
get the sense of some typical expressions; this is really great!
I always wonder how to explain ちゃう as in がんばっちゃう actually... This ちゃう is often used and yet difficult
to explain in English. I personally don't think equivalent expression exists in other languages...
Now, this がんばっちゃう can be used both in positive and negative ways and it's all down to intention and context.
I don't know what exactly 子狼さん originally saw other than just phrase, but please feel free to ask further
question if my explanation was not enough.

As you know, one of the main meanings of てしまう or ちゃう are "unnexpected/unwanted result".
When we talk about past events, it's easy to understand, right? Also, if the negative meaning or sense
is very clear, it's not too difficult. For example,
てきとうに仕事をすれば楽なのに、ついついがんばっちゃう。
(I know it'd be a lot easier if I do my work only "to the okay level" or what I'm supposed to. However,
I can't help doing more. I always end up working very hard.)

When がんばっちゃう has positive meanings, it's more complicated.
I'd be rather mixture of "end up" and "unnexpected/wanted result". I think, most of the case, it'd help
if you add "for you" or "for someone" as translation.
1. 子狼さんが来るなら、がんばっちゃう。
　If 子狼san comes, I'd do my best (for 子狼san).
2. これ、マイケルさんにも見せるの？じゃあ、がんばっちゃおうかな。
Do we show this to マイケルsan too? I think I'd work hard then (to show it to マイケルsan).
3. トラさんの作文なら、疲れて寝ようかと思ってたけど、もう少しがんばっちゃう。
If it is for トラsan's composition (to check), although I was tired and thought of going to bed, I'd continue a bit more
(for トラsan).
Do you get the nuance? My "point of view" (my eyes) on timeline is basically "in the future".
I'm seeing myself "doing extra hard work" or "end up working hard" from the future, "with" certain
conditions. The reason why I mention now to point of view is because, if I'm seeing things form "present",
I'd probably say (じゃあ)がんばる or がんばろう
There's a connotation in ちゃう similar to "you're not supposed to do that". This is probably another key.
In the sentence 1, I'd probably need to do my best whether or not 子狼san comes (to whatever the situation is).
In the sentence 2, I should work hard even if we don't show it to マイケルsan.
And in the sentence 3, I'm supposed to do my work fairly and equally without considering which learner/student,
or not "because it's for トラsan.
Right?
However, in those three sentences, "I" decided to work hard "because of someone" (which I'm not supposed to do)
and used ちゃう accordingly

Like I used in the second sentence, ちゃう with this sense/meaning is often used in ちゃおう, ちゃおうかな and so on.
Of course this can be combined with any other verbs.
作っちゃおうかな。 => Maybe you'll make something for someone.
勉強しちゃおうかな。 => Maybe you're saying this in the sentence like "if it's for you, I'd even study Japanese"

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com