Recently I've come across this sentence in a book:

貴様……面倒すぎて若干自棄になっておらぬか……?

If I've translated this correctly, then I believe it means something like:

You……are too troubled (but) have not become somewhat distressed……?

貴様 Is derogatory but the person speaking it is actually talking respectfully
to her superiors so in this context it should mean the archaic 'you'. The おらぬ
is also interesting I believe it's a humble version of いる with the ぬ being
equivalent to ない.

Assuming all the above is correct, I've translated the sentence as if there's
a 'but' there, however as you can see there is no word like けど in that
sentence, so my question is, is it.possible the 'but' is being implied? Or
have I mistranslated the sentence?
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2017-01-17T10:38:38.150
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2017-01-17T18:48:09.380
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question
meaning syntax
Can a contrast be implied without using けど for example?
> 「貴様{きさま}……面倒{めんどう}すぎて若干{じゃっかん}自棄{やけ}になっておらぬか……?」

(I myself would tend to read 「自棄」 as 「やけ」 here, but the author might want to
read it as 「じき」.)

I am afraid that you are reading the sentence incorrectly. The specific part
that you are understanding incorrectly is indeed 「おらぬか」 at the end.

「おらぬか」 surely means the same as 「いないか」 as you correctly stated. What you
failed to understand, however, is that 「おらぬか」 here is **_not_** used
negatively despite its negative structure using 「ぬ」. **_In reality, it is only
making the sentence a rhetorical question_** It is affirmative.

In other words, 「～～おらぬか」 means 「 **～～おる, right?** 」. Excuse my strange way of
explaining this, but you will get the point.

For the reason above, there is no equivalent of "but" implied or left unsaid
here.

**"too much trouble"** ⇒⇒ resulting in ⇒⇒ **"becoming desperate", "going mad",
etc.**

This is a resultative conjunction; therefore, no "but" needed. The 「 **て** 」
in 「面倒すぎ **て** 」 already expresses the resultative conjunction here.

Likewise, if I said to you 「かっこいいシャツ着{き}てる **じゃないか** 。」, it would mean 100% of
the time " ** _Good-looking shirt you're wearing!_** " Quite a few Japanese-
learners, however, take it to mean the complete opposite thing. If there is
one group of people in this world that ruin my compliments on a regular basis,
they are Japanese-learners.

> "You...too much trouble and getting kinda reckless/desperate, eh?"
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2017-01-17T11:15:18.907
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2017-01-17T18:48:09.380
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answer