I've heard けど / でも has to be placed after the part that contradicts the other
part.  
I never heard of it actually as I learned it by context and not by grammar
rules.

Is it true, or does it depend on what the speaker means to express?

For example: What is the **correct** way to say "I can but I can't be
bothered"?  
(Please **also** include another, better way of saying it if you know of one.
It wouldn't hurt to learn something new :) )

(1) できるけど、めんどくさいよ or  
(2) できる、めんどくさいけどよ

My ears tell me to go with (1) as it makes more sense to my ears.  
However, according to my brain, I should go with (2), since Japanese particles
usually apply to the word they come after... but then again there are
exceptions to almost everything in Japanese so I'm really confused.

P.S.: This problem may even arise from my understanding of English, as I'm
learning a 3rd language (Japanese) through a 2nd language (English).
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-12T21:11:27.793
9758
2012-12-13T02:06:01.107
2012-12-12T21:19:27.003
2977
question
usage particles
Usage of けど / でも
To me the placement of けど affects which clause you are contradicting. Both are
correct insofar as both are common constructions in colloquial Japanese. If
formal writing, you wouldn't want to end a sentence with けど, but you'll find
that even in more polite speech it's OK to add some kind of exception or
contradiction to a previous statement. Just be sure to up it to like なんですけど or
variants.

As for the actual difference in meaning in your examples, to my ears the
placement determines which part you are contradicting. For example, if you say
"できるけど、めんどくさいよ" then I would interpret that to be something like "I _can_ do
it, but it's boring/troublesome/whatever," with the nuance being that you are
saying you are able, but that you would very much prefer not to.
"できる、めんどくさいけど" would be the other way. It's saying "I can do it, though it is
troublesome/boring/whatever," with the nuance being the implication that you
may not really want to do it, but you are willing to do it. Think of it as
though you were putting the けど first in both sentences, so the second would be
"めんどくさいけど、できる。" The difference is a little more obvious that way: you're
saying "I can" without wiggling around it like you would be if you said
"できるけど." This is what I mean by the location determining which one you are
contradicting.

So to get to the point of your question, if you want to make it clear that you
can't be bothered to do something, or basically say that you will not do it,
your example 1 is better.

I don't see much in your question about でも, but I'll just note that でも can't
be used in exactly the same way. It's a little closer in meaning to the
English "but," offering a stronger contrast or contradiction, and I would say
it comes at the end of a sentence much less often.

I think saying "できるけど" is fine, but instead of めんどくさい you could say like
"わざわざしたくない"

You could look here for some other examples of alternate phrasing:
<http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=can%27t+be+bothered>
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-13T00:40:46.510
9761
2012-12-13T00:40:46.510
1797
9758
answer
It might help you to think of けど as "although" instead of "but", that way it
will attach to the same clause as in English.

> Although I can, I can't be bothered  
>  できるけど、めんどくさいよ

If you want something grammatically (or at least structurally) more similar to
"but", you could use だけど/しかし/でも, although these require new sentences.

> I can. But I can't be bothered  
>  できる。でもめんどくさいよ
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-13T02:06:01.107
9763
2012-12-13T02:06:01.107
1073
9758
answer