Я стараюсь не пропускать уроки.

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Breakdown of Я стараюсь не пропускать уроки.

• не: not
• стараться: to try
• урок: the lesson

Questions & Answers about Я стараюсь не пропускать уроки.

What is the nuance of стараюсь? Is it just I try?

Стараться usually means to make an effort, to do one’s best, often with a sense of diligence or conscientious effort.

• Я стараюсь не пропускать уроки. – I try / I make an effort not to miss classes.
  This implies you care and put in steady effort, even if you’re not always successful.

Compared with:

• Пытаться – to attempt, to try (and maybe fail), often about a specific attempt, not necessarily steady effort.

So:

• Я стараюсь не пропускать уроки. – I generally try hard not to miss them.
• Я пытаюсь не пропускать уроки. – I’m trying (making attempts) not to miss them; can sound a bit more like you’re struggling with it.

Why does стараюсь end in -сь? What does that mean?

The -сь (or -ся) ending marks a reflexive verb.

• Infinitive: стараться
• 1st person singular: я стараюсь

Here it does not mean “myself” in a literal sense (like I wash myself). In many verbs, the reflexive ending just changes the meaning slightly; стараться is simply “to try / to make an effort” and is always reflexive. There is no non‑reflexive старать in modern Russian.

So you just learn it as a reflexive verb whose normal 1st‑person form is я стараюсь.