Бояться (to be afraid)

Infinitive (imperfective): боя́ться — "to be afraid, to fear, to be scared (of)" Type: a reflexive -ся verb (second conjugation); governs the genitive case

боя́ться is the everyday verb for fear, and it is the textbook example of a small but important group: emotional -ся verbs that take the genitive. You are afraid of something, and that something goes into the genitive — боя́ться соба́к "afraid of dogs," боя́ться темноты́ "afraid of the dark." English makes "dogs" the object of a preposition; Russian uses a bare genitive, the case of not-having-fully — the thing you fear is held at a wary distance. боя́ться has no perfective partner in everyday use (it describes a state, and states resist a clean "completion"), so this page covers one imperfective verb in depth. Stress is marked on every form.

Present tense — second conjugation

боя́ться is second conjugation with the reflexive ending added: -сь after a vowel, -ся after a consonant. Note the stress shift: it sits on the ending in бою́сь, бои́шься, бои́тся, бои́мся, бои́тесь, but jumps back to the stem in the они́ form боя́тся.

The endings are the regular second-conjugation set (-у/-ю, -ишь, -ит, -им, -ите, -ат/-ят), here the 1sg ending surfacing as -ю after the vowel stem (бою́сь) and the они́ ending as -я- (боя́тся). The only thing to watch is that final они́ боя́тся — stem-stressed, with -я- rather than the -и- you saw in the singular forms.

Past tense

A regular gender-marked past off the -я- stem, with the reflexive ending after the gender markers. Stress is on -я́- throughout.

Because боя́ться names a state, the past usually reads "was afraid / used to be afraid" — an ongoing fear, not a single event. Remember the past agrees in gender: a woman says я боя́лась, a man says я боя́лся.

Future tense

боя́ться is imperfective with no everyday perfective, so it forms only the compound future with бу́ду:

The mechanics are on the imperfective compound future page. The negated future не бу́ду боя́ться "I won't be afraid" is the common, defiant use.

Imperative

The imperative is almost always used in the negative — you tell someone not to be afraid. The bare positive бо́йся! ("be afraid!") exists but is a threat.

Не бо́йся! / Не бо́йтесь! is one of the highest-frequency phrases of reassurance in the language — "Don't be scared, it's fine."

Participles and verbal adverbs

The verbal adverb боя́сь is genuinely common in the sense "for fear of / afraid to" — Он молча́л, боя́сь сказа́ть ли́шнее, "He kept silent, afraid to say too much." The participles are (literary / written).

Key uses & collocations

1. боя́ться + genitive — the thing feared

The thing you fear stands in the genitive, no preposition: боя́ться соба́к, темноты́, сме́рти, экза́мена, оши́бок. The forms are on the genitive forms page; боя́ться belongs to the same genitive-government family as избега́ть "avoid" and достига́ть "achieve." A useful nuance: with concrete, definite things — especially people — colloquial Russian often uses the accusative instead (боя́ться ма́му, не свою́ соба́ку). The genitive is always safe and is the form to learn.

2. боя́ться + infinitive — "be afraid to do"

To be afraid to do something, follow боя́ться with an infinitive. The infinitive is normally imperfective here, because you fear the activity, not a single completed act: боя́ться лета́ть "afraid to fly," боя́ться говори́ть "afraid to speak."

3. боя́ться, что… — fearing a possible event

To fear that something might happen, use боя́ться, что + a clause. When the feared event is genuinely undesired and uncertain, careful written Russian may use боя́ться, как бы не + past — Бою́сь, как бы он не заболе́л "I'm afraid he might fall ill" — but the plain что-clause is standard and always correct in speech.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• боя́ться is a reflexive -ся verb — never drop the -сь / -ся ending; it has no everyday perfective partner.
• Government: genitive, no preposition — боя́ться соба́к, темноты́, экза́мена. (Colloquial accusative with definite people/animals; learn the genitive.)
• Present (second conjugation): бою́сь / бои́шься / бои́тся / бои́мся / бои́тесь / боя́тся — mind the stem-stressed они́ form.
• Past: боя́лся / боя́лась / боя́лось / боя́лись — agrees with the subject's gender.
• • infinitive
  (usually imperfective) = "be afraid to do";
  • что-clause
  = "be afraid that…".
• The reassurance Не бо́йся! / Не бо́йтесь! ("Don't be afraid!") is the workhorse imperative.