ちゃう/じゃう

ちゃう and じゃう are casual contractions of てしまう, one of the most common patterns in spoken Japanese. They express three main feelings:

The contraction follows a simple rule: verbs ending in て become ちゃう, while verbs ending in んで become んじゃう.

In casual speech, you'll hear this constantly. The polite form ちゃいます exists but is less common - most speakers switch to てしまいます for polite situations.

Tip: Listen for ちゃった (past tense) - it's everywhere in anime and dramas when characters make mistakes or finish something.

See examples below for varied real-world usage.