Learn Hardcore Russian: Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски. - I want to be braver when I speak Russian.

does not change for gender or number:
Он смелее. Она смелее. Они смелее.
is often used after быть to describe what someone “is” or “wants to be”:
Я хочу быть смелее = I want to be braver / more confident.

So here it means something like “I want to be more confident/braver (as a person) when I speak Russian.”

Why do we need быть? Could we just say Я хочу смелее?

You need быть here because Russian uses хотеть + infinitive to say “to want to do/be something.”

Я хочу быть смелее = I want to be braver.

Without быть, Я хочу смелее is ungrammatical; Russian needs a verb there.

Compare:

Я хочу быть смелее. – I want to be braver.
Я хочу говорить смелее. – I want to speak more bravely.

In the second sentence, говорить is the infinitive verb that fills the role that быть plays in the first one.

Could I say Я хочу смелее говорить по-русски instead? Is that different?

Yes, you can say:

Я хочу смелее говорить по-русски.

Both are correct, but the nuance shifts:

Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски.
Focus: my overall quality or state — I want to be a braver/more confident person in those situations.
Я хочу смелее говорить по-русски.
Focus: the manner of speaking — I want to speak more boldly (e.g., louder, without hesitating, taking risks with the language).

In everyday conversation, both sound natural. The original sentence is slightly more about inner confidence; the alternative is slightly more about the way you speak.

What is the difference between по-русски and на русском (языке)?

Both can mean “in Russian” (as in “to speak in Russian”), but:

говорить по-русски
– very common, everyday, natural
– literally “to speak in a Russian way” → “to speak Russian”
говорить на русском (языке)
– also correct
– a bit more neutral/formal or explicit, since язык = language

In your sentence:

когда говорю по-русски is the most typical spoken form.
когда говорю на русском (языке) is fine too, just a little less colloquial.

For “speaking a language”, по-русски, по-английски, по-французски are very standard.

Why is по-русски written with a hyphen, and what form is русски?

По-русски is spelled with a hyphen because it’s formed from:

the preposition по-
plus an old case form of the adjective русский.

Historically it’s по + русский (dative singular), which over time became a fixed adverb meaning “in Russian.”

You’ll see the same pattern with other languages or ways of doing something:

по-английски – in English
по-немецки – in German
по-другому – in a different way

So по-русски in your sentence is an adverb: it describes how you speak (in Russian).

Why is there no я after когда? Shouldn’t it be когда я говорю?

You can say когда я говорю, and it’s correct. But in Russian, subject pronouns like я, ты, он are often dropped when the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

говорю already clearly means “I speak”.

So both are possible:

Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски. (more natural, lighter)
Я хочу быть смелее, когда я говорю по-русски. (also correct; я may add a bit of emphasis on “I”)

Leaving out я here is very typical and sounds natural.

Why is говорю in the present tense if I’m talking about future situations when I speak Russian?

In Russian, when you talk about situations that happen generally or repeatedly, especially with когда (when), you usually use the present tense, even if in English you might think “when I will speak.”

когда говорю по-русски
= when(ever) I speak Russian / when I’m speaking Russian.

It describes a general condition or habit, not one specific event in the future.

If you wanted to emphasize one specific future time, you could say:

Я хочу быть смелее, когда буду говорить по-русски.
= I want to be braver when I (will) speak Russian (in that specific future situation).

But for the general idea “when I speak Russian (in general), I want to be braver,” the simple present говорю is exactly right.

Why do we use говорю and not the infinitive говорить after когда?

After когда (“when”), Russian normally uses a finite verb (conjugated for person and tense), not an infinitive.

So:

когда говорю по-русски – correct
когда говорить по-русски – wrong in this meaning

English often uses “when speaking”, with a -ing form (a gerund/participle). Russian doesn’t mirror this exactly; it usually just uses “when + I speak”:

when speaking Russian → когда (я) говорю по-русски

Could I say говорю на русском instead of говорю по-русски?

Yes:

когда говорю по-русски
когда говорю на русском

Both are correct and common. Nuance:

по-русски – slightly more colloquial and idiomatic for “speaking the language.”
на русском (языке) – a bit more neutral or explicit: “in the Russian language.”

In this exact sentence, по-русски is probably the most natural choice, but на русском does not sound wrong.

What is the difference between говорить and разговаривать here? Could I say когда разговариваю по-русски?

You can say когда разговариваю по-русски, and it’s fine, but the verbs are slightly different:

говорить – to speak, to talk, to say (more general)
- говорить по-русски – to speak Russian (to know/use the language)
разговаривать – to have a conversation, to chat, to talk with someone
- разговаривать по-русски – to converse in Russian, to have conversations in Russian

In your sentence:

когда говорю по-русски = whenever I’m speaking Russian (in general)
когда разговариваю по-русски = whenever I’m having conversations in Russian (slightly more “interactive” feeling)

Both are acceptable; говорю по-русски is the most standard phrase for “when I speak Russian.”

Can I change the word order, like Когда говорю по-русски, я хочу быть смелее?

Yes, that word order is also correct:

Когда говорю по-русски, я хочу быть смелее.

Meaning stays the same. The difference is focus:

Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски.
Starts with what you want; then adds the condition.
Когда говорю по-русски, я хочу быть смелее.
Starts with the situation (when I speak Russian); then states what you want in that situation.

Both sound natural. Russian word order is flexible, and commas are used to show the clause boundaries.

Why is there a comma before когда?

In Russian, a clause introduced by когда is a subordinate clause, and such clauses are normally separated by a comma.

Your sentence has:

Main clause: Я хочу быть смелее
Subordinate clause: (когда) говорю по-русски

So they must be divided by a comma:

Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски.

If you put the когда-clause first, you still keep the comma:

Когда говорю по-русски, я хочу быть смелее.