2

I am reading Alita Battle Angel, and I came across a sentence that I do understand, but for some reason is conjugated to the negative. Please could someone break the sentence down for me?

(After becoming just your head, you have become rather talkative)

<p>取｛と｝り憑{つ｝く体によって知能レベルがどうも　<strong>左右{さゆう}されていかん…</strong></p>

<p>(My intelligence is influenced by the body I possess...)</p>

My understanding is that どうも gives the meaning of 'somewhat, fairly, quite', but I do not know why いかない is not in the plain form. Also, what does it do when the passive form of the main verb is used?

Ubz
  • 309
  • 1
  • 5

1 Answers1

5

いかん in this sentence means "no good", "of no use", "it sucks", etc. It's adding the speaker's feeling about the mentioned fact (左右される). いかん is almost a lexicalized expression, and it is also used like English "oops", "don't do it" or "oh my gosh". It sounds a little pompous or dialectal.

Related:

naruto
  • 313,860
  • 13
  • 324
  • 625