Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски.

I

Breakdown of Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски.

• говорить: to speak
• быть: to be
• когда: when

Questions & Answers about Я хочу быть смелее, когда говорю по-русски.

What exactly does смелее mean here, and what form is it?

Смелее is the comparative form of the adjective смелый (brave, bold).

• смелый = brave
• смелее = braver / more brave, more confident, more bold

It’s the normal “-er” comparative, formed by adding -ее to the stem. In Russian, this смелее form:

• 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.