Verb-て + V-ないこともない


In an anime I heard this sentence:

> 屍鬼は通常の食べ物は受け付けないが水分なんかは **取って取れないこともない**

I kinda understand it (I think), but I'm not sure about the actual grammatical
construction (if it's a specific construction at all) and I wasn't able to
find any information about it on the Internet or in my grammars.

To me, it sounds something like "Speaking of taking water and the like, it's
not like they can't" (but really the topic-marker is only on 水分なんか, before
取って), but I'm not sure if there would be any difference with for example
屍鬼は通常の食べ物は受け付けないが水分なんかは取れないこともない, which sounds to me like "Speaking of water
and the like, it's not like they can't take it".

Is it a specific grammatical form with some nuance?




In general, the second verb is the potential form of the first, or its
equivalent as in the case of やってできないこともない.

やってできないこともない means basically the same as just できないこともない. If I had to translate
them in such a way that their difference becomes clear, I would put them this
way.

> できないこともない。  
>  _It’s not like you can’t do it._

> やってできないこともない。  
>  _It’s not like you can’t do it if you (try or choose to) do it._

Doing whatever it is sounds more challenging, and/or the speaker less willing,
in the latter than in the former.




In general, the second verb is the potential form of the first, or its
equivalent as in the case of やってできないこともない.

やってできないこともない means basically the same as just できないこともない. If I had to translate
them in such a way that their difference becomes clear, I would put them this
way.

> できないこともない。  
>  _It’s not like you can’t do it._

> やってできないこともない。  
>  _It’s not like you can’t do it if you (try or choose to) do it._

Doing whatever it is sounds more challenging, and/or the speaker less willing,
in the latter than in the former.

