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彼女は風邪を引いて当然というような薄い服を着ていた

From what I understand, this can approximately be translated as:

She was wearing clothes so thin that you could say: She will definitely catch a cold.

The thing I'm having trouble with is this part in the relative clause:

風邪を引いて当然

First, why is 当然 at the end here? Since I don't think it is modified by what comes before, is this order used to avoid 当然、風邪を引いて which may create a confusion with "She was of course wearing blabla..."? And secondly, why this て form? Is it just an unfinished sentence implying something else, or is it to avoid 風邪を引く当然 were 風邪を引く would act as a relative clause for 当然?

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  • Could 当然 here be adverbial? "one would naturally say, she'll catch a cold". Also while I don't have an explanation, ending stuff on て is kinda common in coloquial, even when it's not used for one of it's purposes, such as ordering someone.
    – 4th Dimension
    Commented Oct 20, 2018 at 20:33
  • Ending sentences on て usually implies something left unsaid as far as I know, even when it's for asking someone to do something. I'm pretty sure 当然 is not modifying いう if that's what you mean, since と "quotes" it.
    – SLM
    Commented Oct 20, 2018 at 23:59

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I think what you might be missing is that ~て当然だ is a grammatical construct on its own.

The main point of the sentence is this:

彼女は薄い服を着ていた The girl was wearing thin clothes.

The construct "風邪を引いて当然というような薄い服" further describes the clothes she is wearing: Clothes so thin as if to indicate it would be natural to catch a cold. (Translation is a bit rough around the edges, but it is hard to express adequately in English)

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  • Thanks, I wasn't aware of this specific construction with て+当然 although I understood the general meaning of the sentence. For now I think I'll just accept it as it is then.
    – SLM
    Commented Oct 20, 2018 at 23:43

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