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Using the form **～てしまう** we mean, that something happened in a way we did not
expect. But what if we use a negative form before the **～てしまう** ending? Will
it be also grammatically right?

For example:

> 昨日メッセージを書いていなくてしまいました。
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2015-02-18T11:44:48.603
22881
2015-02-20T10:05:08.630
9364
question
grammar
Can we use negative form before ～てしまう : f.ex. なく+～てしまう？
You cannot say:

> *「[昨日]{きのう}メッセージを[書]{か}いていなくてしまいました。」

as it is ungrammatical and it does not mean anything.

You can, however, say:

> 「昨日メッセージを書かなくなってしまいました。」,

which is at least grammatical, if not very natural content-wise. It would
mean:

"I stopped writing messages yesterday."

The reason that it does not sound natural in Japanese is that "昨日" is too
close to the present to say that one has terminated an activity for good.

It would sound perfectly natural if you replaced 「昨日」 with
「[一か月]{いっかげつ}くらい[前]{まえ}から」 or 「[２-３週間前]{にさんしゅうかんまえ}から」.
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2015-02-18T12:14:44.653
22882
2015-02-18T13:46:12.953
2015-02-18T13:46:12.953
22881
answer
なくて doesn't connect to しまう but ないで does, in other words, you can say
昨日、メッセージを書かないでしまった.

(Technically, 書いていないでしまった is possible but that sounds very awkward. On the
other hand, 書かないでいてしまった is fine though I still can't see the point to use it
here.)
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2015-02-18T12:57:25.300
22883
2015-02-18T12:57:25.300
4092
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> what if we use a negative form before the ～てしまう ending?

How about using ～ずにいてしまう (negative ず + particle に + verb い(る) + particle て +
しまう), as in:

> 昨日、メッセージを書かずにいてしまいました。
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2015-02-18T13:34:04.713
22885
2015-02-18T13:34:04.713
22881
answer
I don't think 書かないでしまった is possible. It sounds highly unnatural. At least, I
have never heard of such wordings.

However you can show the negative sense using additional words, like:

> 昨日はメッセージを書きそびれてしまった。
>
> Or: 昨日はメッセージを書かずに過ごしてしまった。

Here, ～そびれる is a sort of auxiliary verb to mean "to fail to ～", while 書かずに過ごす
is a simple set of words; "to pass (time) without writing". 書かないで過ごす is also
possible.

* * *

**[EDIT]** I made some google search and found that actually a certain amount
of people including novelists DO use ないでしまった. So this seems to be about the
"difference among individual speakers". While I would still retain my opinion,
you could use ないでしまった probably with no problem...
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2015-02-20T01:22:32.893
22906
2015-02-20T08:34:02.003
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
7667
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answer
Yes, that's right.

**Written language(rare)**

> "～(できなくorしてなく)て" + "しまいました"  
>  e.g.「昨日メッセージを書いていなくてしまいました。」

**Spoken language(general)**

> "しまった" + "～(できなかったorしてなかった)"  
>  e.g.「しまった。昨日メッセージを書いていなかった。」

Note:  
"しまいました" = "しまいます" + "～た"(past tense)  
"しまいます" = "しまう" + "～ます"(Polite language)

Nuance:  
「昨日メッセージを **[書いていなくて]{reason}** **[しまいました。]{negative result}** 」
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2015-02-20T10:05:08.630
22909
2015-02-20T10:05:08.630
9235
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answer