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いやあ… いつの間にかすごい人になっちゃったんだなあ｡ 僕の知ってる鴫野は いわゆる オタクっていうか一人で ずっと ゲームやってるような奴だったのに｡

Isn't ちゃった used for regrets?

Eddie Kal
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Stephenshark62
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1 Answers1

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ちゃった is a contracted form of -てしまった. This しまう (仕舞う in kanji) originally means "to end (up)". See this entry on jisho. Just like "to end up" in English does not always imply an undesirable outcome, Japanese ちゃう/てしまう does not always express the sense of regret. Here, すごい人になっちゃった just means "he ended up becoming a great person" or "he turned out to be a great guy".

See also:

naruto
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  • Suppose a person was agonizing over the question of which country he should go to and he finally ended up in Mexico. Would this sentence be appropriate: 結局はメキシコに住み着いちゃった。Another question I have is that can I understand になっちゃった as となった. Because "となる’ also has the nuance of like end up/ wind up, but it is different from the generic になる in that it has the implication that the process of "becoming" was not so straightforward and easy. –  Stephenshark62 Nov 08 '21 at 09:11
  • @Stephenshark62 Correct, メキシコに住み着いちゃった does not necessarily carry a regrettable feeling. For となる, can you give an example sentence? – naruto Nov 08 '21 at 11:16