Он боится снова проиграть.

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Breakdown of Он боится снова проиграть.

• снова: again
• бояться: to be afraid
• проиграть: to lose a game or contest (perfective)

Questions & Answers about Он боится снова проиграть.

Why is the verb боится and not something like боит?

Because the dictionary form is бояться, which means to be afraid. This is a verb that normally appears with -ся.

In this sentence, боится is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• from бояться

So:

• я боюсь = I am afraid
• он боится = he is afraid

You should learn бояться as a whole verb, not as боить + ся.

What does -ся mean here?

In бояться, -ся is part of the verb. Historically it is related to reflexive meaning, but in modern Russian, with many verbs, it is best to treat it as simply part of the dictionary form.

So бояться is the normal verb for to be afraid. You do not usually remove -ся and use the rest by itself.

Why is проиграть in the infinitive?

After бояться, Russian often uses an infinitive to say what someone is afraid to do or afraid may happen as a result of their action.

So:

• Он боится проиграть = He is afraid to lose / He is afraid of losing

This is a very natural Russian structure:

• бояться + infinitive

Other examples:

• Я боюсь опоздать = I am afraid of being late / I am afraid I’ll be late
• Она боится упасть = She is afraid of falling