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Je n’aurais sans doute pas dû confier cette tâche pourtant simple à ce type.

This is the first time I have seen « pourtant » placed NOT next/close to any verb. This particular usage and its exact meaning elude me.

UPDATE:

As mentioned by PapaPoule in a comment, there is not any element in the preceding context that justifies this bizarre "pourtant {however/yet}" usage. Which exactly has me puzzled. So basically, the meaning of this "pourtant" is independent on its own (most unusually, I might add).

It would be quite straightforward if the sentence went more like:

Je n’aurais pourtant pas dû confier ...

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    « Je n’aurais sans doute pas dû confier cette tâche, qui est pourtant simple, à ce type. »
    – Stéphane
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 16:15
  • Ha ha I was struggling with an answer with like 20 lines then saw @Stéphane's answer, which is the only answer needed.
    – Destal
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 16:18
  • Yep, "answer" not "comment" ;) There was a SO meta post about this, and the resulting answer was a short answer is sometimes better than a long one, and it's always better than no answer. When the question is "how to interpret this" a one-line answer is fine :)
    – Teleporting Goat
    Commented Dec 13, 2016 at 9:03
  • +1 for sharing my confusion, but what confuses me the most about this use of “pourtant” is not that it’s being used to modify an adjective (instead of a verb), but rather that it’s being used in the absence of a clear (or even implicit, imo) contradictory or opposing proposition or notion. To me it seems to be missing something, perhaps just a “même” : “Je n’aurais sans doute pas dû confier même cette tâche, pourtant simple, à ce type” or maybe something more: “Je n’aurais sans doute pas dû confier cette tâche, quelle que soit sa simplicité, à ce type.”
    – Papa Poule
    Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 15:30
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    @PapaPoule Precisely. In the preceding context, there is not any element that justifies this bizarre "pourtant {however/yet}" usage. Which exactly has me puzzled. So basically, the meaning of this "pourtant" is independent (most unusually, I might add).
    – Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
    Commented Dec 14, 2016 at 16:21

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The same way "Cette tâche simple" means "cette tâche, qui est simple", "Cette tâche pourtant simple" means "Cette tâche, qui est pourtant simple".

You can very well use adverbs directly with adjectives, the implicit verb is always "être". (If there needs to be an implicit verb...)

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