Breakdown of Я не верю в приметы, но боюсь призраков.
не
not
я
I
в
in / to (direction)
но
but
верить
to believe
бояться
to be afraid
примета
omen (f)
призрак
ghost (m)
Questions & Answers about Я не верю в приметы, но боюсь призраков.
Why is призраков in the Genitive case here instead of the Accusative?
The verb бояться (to fear / to be afraid of) is a verb of fear, and it always requires its object to be in the Genitive case. Because of this, the masculine noun призрак (ghost) takes the Genitive plural ending -ов to become призраков.
Doesn't the preposition в usually take the Prepositional case? Why is приметы in the Accusative?
We use в + Prepositional to talk about location (where something is). However, the phrase "to believe in" (верить в) always requires the Accusative case for the thing or person you believe in. Here, приметы is the Accusative plural of примета (omen or sign).
Wait, aren't ghosts animate? Couldn't призраков be the animate Accusative plural?
You are right that призрак is treated as an animate noun, meaning its Accusative plural looks exactly the same as its Genitive plural (призраков). However, grammatically, it is strictly in the Genitive case here because the verb бояться only governs the Genitive.
Why does the verb боюсь end in -сь rather than -ся?
This is a basic spelling rule for reflexive verbs that is easy to forget: the suffix -ся shrinks to -сь whenever it attaches to a vowel. Since the "I" form of the verb ends in the vowel -ю (я боюсь), we must use -сь.
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