Я больше не боюсь говорить по-русски.

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Breakdown of Я больше не боюсь говорить по-русски.

• говорить: to speak
• по-русски: in Russian
• бояться: to be afraid
• больше не: no longer

Questions & Answers about Я больше не боюсь говорить по-русски.

What does боюсь mean exactly, and why does it end in -юсь?

Боюсь means “I am afraid” or “I fear.”

• The base verb is бояться – to be afraid, to fear.
• It is a reflexive verb, which is shown by the ending -ся (or -сь after a vowel).

Conjugation (present tense, singular):

• я боюсь – I am afraid
• ты боишься – you are afraid
• он / она боится – he / she is afraid

So бояться → бою + сь → боюсь:
the -юсь ending is just 1st person singular + reflexive.

Why is it говорить по-русски, not something like говорить русский?

In Russian, when you say “to speak a language”, you usually use:

• говорить по-русски – speak Russian (literally: “speak in a Russian way”)
• or говорить на русском (языке) – speak in Russian (language)

You cannot say говорить русский for “speak Russian.”
Говорить + accusative language name is incorrect in standard Russian.

So:

• ❌ говорить русский
• ✅ говорить по-русски
• ✅ говорить на русском (языке)

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

Both can mean “in Russian”, but there are some nuances:

• по-русски behaves like an adverb:

  • говорить по-русски – to speak Russian (how? in what manner?)

• на русском (языке) uses на + prepositional case:

  • говорить на русском (языке) – to speak in Russian (in which language?)

In everyday speech:

• They are often interchangeable in this context:
  
  • Я не боюсь говорить по-русски.
  • Я не боюсь говорить на русском.
    Both sound natural.

Some speakers feel по-русски is a bit more colloquial/neutral and на русском a bit more “formal” or “schoolish,” but both are very common.

What does больше не mean, and how is it different from just не?

• не by itself means “not / don’t / do not”.
• больше не together means “no longer / not anymore / not ... any more.”

So:

• Я не боюсь. – I am not afraid. (no info about before)
• Я больше не боюсь. – I am no longer afraid; I used to be, but now I’m not.

In your sentence, больше не adds the idea of a change compared to the past.

Can I say Я не боюсь больше говорить по-русски instead? Is it the same?

You can say it, but the emphasis can change slightly.

1. Я больше не боюсь говорить по-русски.

   • Neutral, common word order.
   • Focus: I no longer fear speaking Russian.

2. Я не боюсь больше говорить по-русски.

   • Also possible.
   • Often sounds like the “больше” (anymore / any longer) is being emphasized:
     “I’m not afraid anymore to speak Russian.”

Both are grammatically correct and usually understood the same in conversation.
The first version is the most natural and typical.

Why is говорить in the infinitive form here?

Russian often uses бояться + infinitive to express being afraid to do something:

• бояться + infinitive:
  • Я боюсь летать. – I am afraid to fly.
  • Она боится говорить. – She is afraid to speak.

So here:

• боюсь (я боюсь) – I am afraid
• говорить – to speak

Together: Я боюсь говорить по-русски. – I am afraid to speak Russian.

The infinitive is the normal form after бояться when you are afraid of doing an action.

Can бояться also be followed by a noun, not an infinitive?

Yes. Бояться can be used in two main ways:

1. бояться + infinitive (afraid to do something):

   • Я боюсь говорить. – I’m afraid to speak.
   • Мы боимся опоздать. – We’re afraid to be late.

2. бояться + noun (usually in genitive) (afraid of something/someone):

   • Она боится темноты. – She is afraid of the dark.
   • Ребёнок боится собаки. – The child is afraid of the dog.

Your sentence uses the first pattern (бояться + infinitive).

What tense is боюсь, and what aspect is говорить?

• боюсь – present tense, imperfective aspect (from бояться).
  It describes a current state: “I am (now) afraid.”

• говорить – infinitive, imperfective aspect.
  Imperfective говорить means “to speak / to be speaking (in general)”, not a single, completed act.

So the sentence describes a general ability or action (speaking Russian), not one specific occasion.

Is it possible to drop я and just say Боюсь говорить по-русски?

Yes, that is possible in Russian.

Russian often omits the subject pronoun when it is clear from the verb ending who the subject is. Боюсь can only be “I am afraid”, so:

• Боюсь говорить по-русски. – perfectly natural, especially in spoken Russian.

Including я:

• Я боюсь говорить по-русски.
  can add a bit more emphasis on I, but both versions are correct.

Why is there a hyphen in по-русски?

По-русски is historically formed from:

• preposition по
• adjective русский (Russian)

Together they’ve become a fixed adverbial form written with a hyphen:
по-русски, по-английски, по-французски, etc.

Other examples:

• по-русски – in Russian
• по-английски – in English
• по-немецки – in German

These are standard spelling rules for such language adverbs in Russian.

How do you pronounce боюсь and по-русски? Where is the stress?

Stress and basic pronunciation:

• боюсь – stress on -юсь: боЮсь

  • [ba-YUS’] (the final “сь” is a soft s, no separate vowel)

• по-русски – stress on РУ: по-РУС-ки

  • [pa-RUS-kee]
  • There are two с letters; pronounce it with a long [s] sound: русски ~ “roos-skee”

Could I say Я уже не боюсь говорить по-русски instead of Я больше не боюсь…? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can. Both are correct and very close in meaning.

• Я больше не боюсь говорить по-русски.
  – I no longer am afraid to speak Russian.

• Я уже не боюсь говорить по-русски.
  – I already am not afraid to speak Russian anymore.

Subtle nuance:

• больше не emphasizes ending of a previous state (not anymore).
• уже не emphasizes the current result (“already not now,” often after some change or progress).

In practice, in this sentence they’re almost interchangeable.