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Help with a sentence.

Francis Yang

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19 Sep 2020
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Hello, I was recently reading an online text and encountered a sentence that goes as following: なにをしようと結末を変えられはせん. Could anyone explain to me what exactly the しようと that comes before hatsumatsu in this sentence means? Also, for the conjugated form of 変える at the end of the sentence, could anyone explain why られはせん is used instead of られません? Thank you for your time!
 
My Japanese is a bit rusty, but なにをしようと is basically saying, "whatever you do".
Unless I'm mistaken 結末 is kestsumatsu.
Why they used the verb form in the end is anyone's guess, but I feel it sounds more "thoughtful" and introspective that the alternative.
 
Hello, I was recently reading an online text and encountered a sentence that goes as following: なにをしようと結末を変えられはせん. Could anyone explain to me what exactly the しようと that comes before hatsumatsu in this sentence means? Also, for the conjugated form of 変える at the end of the sentence, could anyone explain why られはせん is used instead of られません? Thank you for your time!
"The volitional form of a verb + と" is a conditional clause, meaning "even if", so it's similar to ~ても in meaning. Thus, なにをしようと(=なにをしても) means "even if you(or I/we/they) do any kind of things", i.e., "whatever you/I/we/they do", as Mikawa-san wrote.

変えられはせん is not used there instead of 変えられません. As you might know, "the -masu stem of a verb + はしない" is a negative form, which is used for emphasis or contrasting.
e.g.
行きはしない
an emphasized form of 行かない or "I don't go (, but do something else instead)".

せん is a classical form of しない, thus, 変えられはせん is not a polite negative form, even though it seemingly resembles 変えられません.
 
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