Jisho

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7bb633f8f8c5a00c44072c1141342bb8
2 Replies ・ Started by Caitlin at 2017-12-31 16:08:21 UTC ・ Last reply by SenseiHanzo at 2018-01-03 00:15:40 UTC

Does anyone know the meaning/grammar of 除籍されんとし and 逃れんとする?

While the meaning of the kanji is no big deal, it's the されんと part that confuses me. I assume that the verb ends at されん and that と is just a particle, followed by a verb, but what does this ん at the end of され mean? Is it negative?

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jakobd2 at 2018-01-01 14:15:49 UTC

ん is probably just る. (so non-past non-negative in your example)

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SenseiHanzo at 2018-01-03 00:15:40 UTC

～せんとする is equivalent to ～しようとする. It comes from the old Japanese auxiliary verb む, which in this case represents the volitional. Over time, the sound changed to ん.

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