Он не собирается работать допоздна сегодня.

not

Breakdown of Он не собирается работать допоздна сегодня.

• сегодня: today
• он: he
• работать: to work

Questions & Answers about Он не собирается работать допоздна сегодня.

What exactly does собираться mean in this sentence?

Here собираться means “to intend / to be going to (do something)”.

So Он не собирается работать допоздна сегодня is best understood as:

• “He is not going to work late today.”
• or “He doesn’t intend to work late today.”

Literally: “He is not gathering himself to work late today,” but in modern Russian this verb in the present tense + infinitive is a very common way to express intention about the future.

Why is собирается in the present tense if the meaning is future?

Russian often uses the present tense of verbs like:

• собираться (to intend, to be going to)
• хотеть (to want)
• планировать (to plan)

followed by an infinitive to talk about future actions.

So:

• Он не собирается работать допоздна сегодня.
  = “He is not going to work late today.” (future meaning)

Grammatically it is present tense (он собирается = “he is planning / intending”), but the combination present + infinitive gives a future sense, very similar to English “is going to do”.

Why is работать in the infinitive and not работает?