Help translate these two sentences with 也未必 and 更何况

Question

The challenging parts for me are 也未必 and 连…更何况.

未必 = not necessarily; 连…更何况 = even ..., much less ... Does that give you a clue? — Stumpy Joe Pete, Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 0:22
Actually I think it should be 连 ... 也 together, which means "even ... also". Does that help you? OR perhaps it's what @StumpyJoePete said :P I'm not sure! — Ming, Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 0:33
1. Sometimes even your father is not necessarily trustworthy, much less strangers. 2. Sometimes even even strangers are trustworthy, let alone your father. (ref). — XoXo, Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 0:40
For sentence #2, i don't think much less fits there (maybe much more, if it exists). Is there something else to replace let alone? — XoXo, Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 0:42
@Ming The whole construction is something like "连 NP 也 VP, 更何况 NP VP". The 也 is part of it, but it's connected to the first of the two clauses. Jeff: That's a good observation about how "much less" works. I honestly can't think of a good-sounding translation for #2 ("let alone" sounds weird to me and "much more" isn't a real phrase). — Stumpy Joe Pete, Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 1:09

billyho · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-28 02:35:55Z

4

有时就连你的父亲也未必信得过，更何况是陌生人。

Sometimes you can't even trust your father, not to mention a stranger.

有时连陌生人你也可以相信，更何况是你的父亲。

Sometimes you can even trust a stranger, not to mention your father.

I think even...not to mention would be a proper translation for 连...更何况, 也未必 is just a word indicate that the sentence is negative.

answered Oct 28, 2014 at 2:35

billyho

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how is 過used in the first example？
– davidtingsu
Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 18:16
@davidtingsu According to Pleco dictionary, it is used after 得 and means "deserving". So in this case it means "it deserves the trust" or "can trust enough".
– Blaszard
Commented Oct 26, 2017 at 3:48

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