-ed vs -ing Adjectives
A2 · ElementaryAdjectivesBored describes the person feeling it; boring describes the thing that causes the feeling. Mixing these up is one of the most common learner mistakes in English.
What you'll learn
- -ed adjectives (bored, interested, excited) describe a person's feeling
- -ing adjectives (boring, interesting, exciting) describe the thing or situation causing it
- Both come from the same verb (to bore, to interest, to excite)
- A boring movie makes you bored — never the other way around
Two adjectives, one verb
Many English adjectives come in pairs built from the same verb: bore → bored / boring; interest → interested / interesting; excite → excited / exciting. The -ed form and the -ing form describe two completely different things.
-ed: the person's feeling
The -ed adjective describes how a person feels — it's about the person experiencing something. 'I was bored' means I felt boredom.
-ing: the thing that causes it
The -ing adjective describes the thing, person or situation that causes that feeling in others. 'The lecture was boring' means the lecture caused boredom.
A simple test: if you can say 'it/he/she makes me feel ___', use the -ing form for the cause and the -ed form for your own feeling.
Real English
Watch out
'I am boring' means you make other people feel bored — to say you feel bored yourself, use the -ed form.
The lecture is the cause of interest, not the one feeling interested — use the -ing form for a thing that causes a feeling.
You're describing your own state of confusion, so you need the -ed form — 'confusing' would describe the instructions themselves.
The feeling caused in you is always expressed with the -ed form, whatever caused it.
Real life — Talking about a work trip
"How was the conference?"
"Honestly, exhausting. Three days of back-to-back meetings."
"Was it at least interesting?"
"Some of it, yeah — but I was pretty bored by the last session."
Practice
Exercise 1 · Choose the correct form
I was ___ by the movie.
Exercise 2 · Choose the correct form
The movie was ___.
Exercise 3 · Choose the correct form
She felt ___ after the long meeting.
Exercise 4 · Choose the correct form
The meeting was ___.
Exercise 5 · Choose the correct form
I'm ___ in learning French.
Exercise 6 · Fix the mistake
Fix the mistake:
Exercise 7 · Choose the correct form
He was ___ to hear the news.
Exercise 8 · Complete the sentence
Complete: The news was very ___. (describes the news itself, which causes surprise, one word)
Exercise 9 · Complete the sentence
Complete: I feel so ___ after that run. (describes how you feel — completely out of energy, one word)
Exercise 10 · Build the sentence
Exercise 11 · Fix the mistake
Fix the mistake:
Quick challenge
Five quick questions to check what stuck.
Question 1 / 5
Score: 0/0
The book was ___.
You learned
- -ed adjectives (bored, excited, interested) describe how a person feels.
- -ing adjectives (boring, exciting, interesting) describe the thing causing that feeling.
- A boring movie makes you bored — never say 'I am boring' when you mean you feel bored.
- Test: does it cause the feeling (-ing) or experience the feeling (-ed)?
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