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I've seen 何気なく attached to verbs and used to mean "unintentionally or
accidentally" similar to how 〜てしまう is used.

I was wondering if they had a different nuance.

For example the sentences:

そのケーキを全部食べてしまった。

and

そのケーキを何気なく全部食べた。

I would both translate as "I ended up eating the whole cake accidentally." But
is there a difference between them to a Japanese person?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-04T16:45:54.773
34651
2016-06-04T17:11:53.677
12437
question
nuances
Are 何気なく and 〜てしまう equivalent? If not, how do they differ?
The two sentences are different.

ケーキを全部食べてしまった does not carry the meaning of "unintentionally or accidentally".
This sentence is perfectly fine even when the person who ate the cake was
fully aware that he was doing a bad thing. The sentence just implies the
result was not favorable to the speaker anyway.

On the other hand, 何気なくケーキを食べた implies nothing about the resulting situation.
It just says someone ate the cake without thinking deeply, expecting nothing
in particular.

>   * 妹のものだと知っていたのに、ケーキを全部食べてしまった。
>   * 何気なくそのケーキを食べたら、とてもおいしかった。
>
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-04T17:11:53.677
34653
2016-06-04T17:11:53.677
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34651
answer