Мой друг хотел отказаться от участия, но я всё-таки уговорил его прийти.

My friend wanted to refuse to take part, but I still persuaded him to come.

Breakdown of Мой друг хотел отказаться от участия, но я всё-таки уговорил его прийти.

• друг: the friend
• я: I
• мой: my
• хотеть: to want

Questions & Answers about Мой друг хотел отказаться от участия, но я всё-таки уговорил его прийти.

What does отказаться от участия literally mean, and why is от used here?

Отказаться means “to refuse, to decline, to back out.”
Участие = “participation.”

The preposition от (normally “from”) is used with отказаться to show what you are refusing. It requires the genitive case, so участие becomes участия.

So отказаться от участия is literally “to refuse from participation,” but natural English equivalents are “to back out (of participating)” or “to withdraw (one’s) participation.”

Why do we need both хотел and отказаться? Why not just мой друг отказался от участия?

Хотел отказаться = “wanted to back out,” i.e. he had the intention or desire to do it, but in this story he did not actually go through with it (because the speaker later persuaded him).

If you say мой друг отказался от участия, that means “my friend backed out / withdrew” — a completed action. That would contradict the second part “but I persuaded him to come.”

So:

• мой друг хотел отказаться → he wanted to withdraw, but did not.
• мой друг отказался → he did withdraw (completed fact).

Why is отказаться reflexive (with -ся)? What’s the difference between отказать and отказаться?