Tired vs. Tiring: What Is the Difference?

Tired vs. Tiring: What Is The Difference?

Today, I want to explain a mistake that my students make all the time and explain how you can avoid making this mistake. 

In English we have a group of adjectives that end with either -ing or -ed. These adjectives with -ing and -ed endings are very useful and usually describe something that causes a feeling, or describes how someone feels. Some of these adjectives are:

1. Tired/tiring

2. Bored/boring

3. Exhausted/exhausting

4. Annoyed/annoying

5. Excited/exciting

To get right to the point, the -ed ending adjectives are used to describe how we feel, and the -ing ending adjectives describe something that causes the feeling. Let’s take a look at some examples…

-ed adjectives:

1. I feel bored when I am in long meetings.

2. I am tired because I worked 12 hours today.

3. Dave is exhausted because he had to stay up all night studying.

4. Silvia gets annoyed when her husband forgets to do the dishes.

5. Mike is excited because he will go on vacation to Dubai tomorrow morning.

All of these sentences (specifically, the adjectives) describe how someone feels.

-ing adjectives:

1. Long meetings are exhausting, I wish they would just send us an email instead.

2. Working 12 hours a day is exhausting, I prefer to work only 7.

3. Studying all night and not sleeping is exhausting.

4. When Silvia’s husband forgets to do the dishes, it is really annoying.

5. Going on a vacation to Dubai is exciting.

All of these sentences are focused on describing an activity or event that makes us feel a certain way.

Now let’s look at why this is important.

If you mix these words up and make a mistake, sometimes it can change the meaning completely and people will absolutely misunderstand you. Let me show you an example…

Let's use the word bored/boring as an example. If I am watching a movie that i don't like because it is not interesting, I would probably want to say “I am bored.” But if I say “I am boring,” that means that you think you are not an interesting person, and probably people will think you are depressed and sad. 

Another example can be seen with tired/tiring. If I have been working all day and have no energy left, I would probably want to say, “I am tired,” but if I say, “I am tiring,” that means that I make other people feel exhausted or drained. People might think that spending time with me is exhausting, or that I talk too much and wear them out.

Review:

-ed adjectives:

These adjectives that end with -ed are used to describe feelings (I am bored, I am tired, I am exhausted).

-ing adjectives:

These adjectives that end with -ing are used to describe things that cause the feeling (Computer books are boring, work meetings are tiring, climbing mountains is exhausting).

Practice:

Read the sentences and complete the sentences using the correct word:

**Comment your answers below, and I will let you know if you are correct.

**If you need any help understanding, I am available in the comments.

1. The movie was so _______ that I almost fell asleep. (bored/boring)

2. After running that marathon, I felt really _______, so I drank a Redbull. (tired/tiring)

3. This book is really _______; I can't stop reading it! (interested/interesting)

4. She was _______ when she heard the great news. (excited/exciting)

5. The class was so _______ that the students kept checking the time. (bored/boring)

6. I don’t like horror movies because they are too _______. (frightened/frightening)

7. He was _______ after working 12 hours straight. (exhausted/exhausting)

8. The rollercoaster ride was _______! I want to go again. (thrilled/thrilling)

9. My little brother gets _______ when he has nothing to do. (bored/boring)

10. The instructions were very _______. I didn’t understand them at all. (confused/confusing)