Bored' and 'boring'

Bored' and 'boring' can be used as adjectives, but they describe things in different ways. I shall begin by giving two examples:

• I feel bored because this TV programme is boring.
• I am frightened because this film is frightening.

In both of those examples, I had certain temporary feelings - I was bored and I was frightened. What were the causes of those feelings? Well, the TV programme was boring and the film was frightening. These '-ing' adjectives describe the qualities of something, whereas the '-ed' adjectives describe a temporary state or feeling, which is caused by something.

If I stop watching the film, I won't be frightened any longer, but the film is still a frightening film.

We can see this difference between a temporary feeling and a permanent quality if we look at the words you asked about – boring and bored.

Here are two examples:

• I don't like David. I think he is boring.
• Oh, I'm bored. Let's go out and do something fun.

In the first example, I don't like David because he is boring, and this is a permanent characteristic or quality of his. In my opinion, he was boring yesterday, he is boring today, and he will be boring tomorrow. However, in the second example, I have a temporary feeling - I am bored - and if we do something fun I will not have that feeling anymore.