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I am trying rather confused by the way the following sentence is constructed thus making it hard to understand its meaning.

あたしも取れる手を取れるだけ取らせて頂きました

I believe I understand the last part "取らせて頂きました" which would mean something like "I had the permission to take…" but the part preceding it is causing some confusion.

To me it seems "取れる手を取れるだけ" Would literally mean "only the hands which will obtain it, takes it", which doesn't make an awful lot of sense. I can make a few guess at what the speaker might be saying, but I would prefer some clarity here.

(For context the speaker is a merchant speaking to his client about a specific item amongst his wares)

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    only the hands... --> Are you aware that the [手]{て} here means [手段]{しゅだん}/方法 (measure/step/means)?
    – chocolate
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 0:50

3 Answers 3

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To break it down to smaller chunks...

取れる手を -- measures that I can take
取れるだけ -- as many as I can take
取らせて頂きました -- lit. I had the permission to take → I took

Put together,

取れる手を取れるだけ取らせて頂きました。
(Lit. I took as many measures that I could take as I could take.)
→ "I took/employed/adopted as many measures/means as I could." / "I took every possible measure that I could take."


The ~だけ here means "as (many) as~~" "as (much) as~~" rather than "only". A few examples:

できるだけ早く来てください。 Please come as soon as possible.
飲みたいだけ飲んでいいですよ。 You can drink as much as you want.

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  • 長めの回答書いてたら先に行かれてもうたわ。ホンマに手が早いわ、手際がええわ、手ごわいわ、手に負えんわ・・ ええ回答に、手から鱗やわ。
    – user4032
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 1:22
  • ^ おおお?褒められた!?ワーイ °˖☆◝(⁰▿⁰)◜☆˖°
    – chocolate
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 1:25
  • 「手から鱗」の部分、スルーかいっ!
    – user4032
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 1:29
  • ^ うえええ・・・どない突っ込んだらええかわからんw
    – chocolate
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 9:25
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I think the syntax is explained in the other answer. So, the Marchant explains the client that they used their technique which they can use as much as they could use for the item.

If you go to all-you-can-eat sometimes called バイキング in Japan, they say, you can eat the meal you can eat as much as you can.

食べれるものを食べれるだけ食べてください。

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だけ in this sense is used to refer to "one's best ability" (as much as one can), just like in できるだけ, but with the verb in question, in potential form. A similar example: "作れるだけ作る" would mean "to make as much as one can make". So if you split your sentence into two logical blocks, the first would be 取れる手を, and the second would be 取れるだけ取らせて頂きました.

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