Hey guys,
I need help with a sentence i got in my textbook. I tried to translate it but i don’t get the meaning of it.
してしまったことをしなければよかったなどと思ってもしかたがない。
I guess it means something like, “If i wouldn’t have done what i did, it would be better, but there is no other way i think.”
I assume that it’s not exactly right. Do you understand the correct meaning?
Please help (:
Maybe it helps you when you think of しかたがない as “can’t be helped”?
My understanding of this sentence is “even when I think that it would have been better not to have done what I (unfortunately) did, it can’t be helped (i.e. I can’t change it any more).”
This is pretty hard to express in English (I’m not a native speaker 
) so I hope you get the meaning nonetheless
Which textbook is this, if I may ask?
Perfect, i actually didn’t know that しかたがない means “can’t be helped”.
Problem solved >_<
Besten Dank
Gerne gerne!
Out of curiosity, which textbook is it? The sentence is so convoluted that unless said fast, one could get lost halfway through
Oh, I just checked jisho and it turns out that after ても it has the meaning of “it’s pointless” (see 3.) which fits even better, I think:
I study grammar with the book series 日本語総まとめ NIHONGO SO-MATOME and I’m currently at N3.
This grammar? https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/てもしょうがない・ても仕方がない-temo-shou-ga-nai-temo-shikata-ga-nai-meaning/
I actually found the translation at the end of my book -_-
It says, “It’s no use thinking I shouldn’t have done something that i did.”
Comes down to the same meaning just a bit more simple i guess. Well i could have found that out earlier but. してしまったことをしなければよかったなどと思ってもしかたがない。
It’s a level 6 vocab word
I guess it just looks weird in kana and not with kanji
Nice, I 100% forgot about it 
Interesting sentence, I haven’t studied much grammar in a while and was most confused about the “など” part before “と思って”. Can someone explain to me what is the meaning of that? From my understanding, the sentence would work just as well without this “など”
It means “and so on”. I would translate it as “thinking things like …”. This expresses that it is not only pointless to think exactly that thought, but similar thoughts are also pointless.
Thanks! Just googled a bit more about it and I guess I will also get it as a vocab in wanikani maybe next level since I’m learning the kanji 等 right now.
If you don’t know that site already, I can fully recommend using Jisho to find out meanings of vocab:
Oh ofc I know jisho. Never used it to translate grammar related stuff before though.
ichi.moe is also really good for parsing grammar
Is this Pinocchio in Shrek trying to avoid telling the truth while also not lying?
C’mon, I apologized already 
I blame my native language for allowing me to think in such a convoluted way 
You were right, tho. 
Is it because I’m also not a native English speaker?
