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> 残念 **でも** しかたない。  
>  _Even_ bad luck can't be helped.

I know でも to mean either 'even..', '..or something', or as separate particles
で+も. None of these interpretations really seem to fit here.

I'm tempted to go for the で+も option: "it's bad luck and it can't be helped".
But then I still don't understand what to do with the も.
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2017-05-15T19:48:40.677
47464
2017-05-15T22:25:37.673
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question
particle-も particle-でも
Meaning of でも in 残念でもしかたない
I'd like to have a better sense of the context of this sentence but as it is
it seems like the speaker is telling the listener something more like

> I'm sorry to say it but it can't be helped

or

> It's unfortunate but can't be helped (despite one's efforts)

In that case the でも would take on the meaning of "even" or "but".
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2017-05-15T19:59:59.223
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2017-05-15T19:59:59.223
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In order to know how to understand it here, you have to understand the
function of the words that are being used in the first place.

「残念」 here acts as an adjective. How can you figure it out? Well you have to
ask yourself those questions:

1) How is it?

2) What is it?

And try to answer them yourself. You will see that the answer to the first
question is an adjective, and the answer to the second question is a noun.

So in your sentence, if we assume that 「残念」 acts as a noun, then the following
「で」 is without doubt the 連用形 of the 助動詞 (auxiliary verb) 「だ」. As for 「も」 you
already know the meaning. So we could interpret it as following:

> 残念でもしかたない。 : Even if/though it is a regret, it can't be helped.

However, if we assume that 「残念」acts as an adjective, which is the most likely,
then 「で」 is the 連用形 of what we call a 活用語尾 (conjugative suffix). Also, an
adjective is a qualifier which is used to describe something, so the way you
translate a noun and an adjective will obviously be different. Anyway, you
could interpret your sentence as following:

> 残念でもしかたない。 : Even if/though it is unfortunate, it can't be helped.

The difference may be small, but you can clearly notice how the second
interpretation makes much more sense.
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2017-05-15T20:53:50.260
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2017-05-15T20:53:50.260
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> 残念でもしかたない。
>
> I know でも to mean either 'even..', '..or something', or as separate
> particles で+も. None of these interpretations really seem to fit here.

You can construe this construction as:

残念で(ある） (I'm/It's) regretful

も but

仕方(が)ない (there) is nothing/no way (I can do).

It's regretful, but it can't be helped.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-15T22:25:37.673
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2017-05-15T22:25:37.673
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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