Trying to understand forms of “どうせ…だろう”


To my understanding, in a normal non-conditional clause “どうせ” has a function
of saying that something makes the surrounding context irrelevant, similar to
“anyway” in English. As in for instance “あのパーティーにいるかどうかはどうでもいい、どうせ行かないから。” for
something like “I don't care whether he'll be at that party or not, as I won't
be going anyway.”

But I'm often encountering “どうせ” in contexts with a form of “〜だろう” attached
where it seems to have a very different meaning that I can't find anything
about in any particular resource, rather seemingly emphasizing the speakers
expects something to be the case in a dismissive way. For instance something
like “お前たちはどうせなにか企んでるだろう。” for what seems to mean something like “I bet you
guys are planning something.”, seemingly losing all of the normal connotation
of “どうせ” that it makes the surrounding context irrelevant as I often encounter
it contexts where no such implication seems to make sense.

Is my understanding correct that “どうせ” often loses this implication of marking
the surrounding context as irrelevant when coupled with “〜だろう”? or is there
more to it what I don't understand?




In "どうせなにか企んでるだろう", the word どうせ carries nuances like "I know it, so there's
no need to think much about this matter" or "Whatever you guys say doesn't
matter". Therefore, it still can be understood based on the basic meaning of
"irrespective of the surrounding context, the conclusion is inevitable". In
English, phrases such as "be that as it may", "whatever you may say", "at the
end of the day", or "after all" might be similar.




In "どうせなにか企んでるだろう", the word どうせ carries nuances like "I know it, so there's
no need to think much about this matter" or "Whatever you guys say doesn't
matter". Therefore, it still can be understood based on the basic meaning of
"irrespective of the surrounding context, the conclusion is inevitable". In
English, phrases such as "be that as it may", "whatever you may say", "at the
end of the day", or "after all" might be similar.

