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I would like to ask about the interpretation of the sentence below:

> 美しいと思ってしまったのだ

If I were to interpret it literally, it would mean

> The thing of unintentionally thinking that it is beautiful

However, the translation given is

> Struck me as profoundly beautiful

I am finding it difficult to draw the link between the literal meaning and the
given meaning. Is my literal interpretation of the sentence wrong?
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2019-10-08T11:14:28.263
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2019-10-08T17:18:21.613
2019-10-08T14:05:06.023
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question
translation
Translation of: 美しいと思ってしまったのだ
～てしまう also has the meaning of 'completely', as in carrying out an action to
its completion.

In this case, the 'thinking' is what is being done completely. A literal
translation would be "I completely thought "it is beautiful". However, that is
a rather uninspiring translation. I would say that "struck me as profoundly
beautiful" better captures the idea of being so completely taken with the
thought.

Another example:

> 私は持っていた切手を全部友達にあげてしまった。I gave all the stamps I had kept to my friends. (I
> completed the action of giving all the stamps to my friends)
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2019-10-08T11:27:15.807
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2019-10-08T11:33:05.690
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answer
> 美しいと思って **しまったのだ** 。

I think the しまった here means "unintentionally", or "unexpectedly" with a nuance
"although you might not think that way in normal circumstance" (related: [Verb
in ている form ends with しまう](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/26023/9831)),
or maybe "wind up/end up" (related: [「しまう」 as an auxiliary
verb](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/21029/9831)).

As for the のだ, it could be used to add an emphasis, add an explanatory tone,
or to mean "Actually, ..." "Surprisingly..." etc., depending on the context.
These threads might be of help:

  * [What is the meaning of ～んです/～のだ/etc?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5398/9831)
  * [How is the "のです" working here?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3349/9831)
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2019-10-08T17:18:21.613
72365
2019-10-08T17:18:21.613
9831
72359
answer