彼は退屈だ - He is boring? bored?
The difference between ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ adjectives is usually explained in simple terms in the following way :
- ‘-ed’ adjectives express a person’s feeling; eg., He is bored = He feels bored.
- ‘-ing’ adjectives express a quality or characteristic of something. Or, in other words, they express how something or someone makes other people feel. eg., He is boring.
characteristic - 持ち味・独特
So, if someone is ‘boring‘ it means that they make other people feel ‘bored‘. OK? Got that? Let’s take the explanation a little deeper…
The perceptive student will quickly notice that words ending in ‘-ing’ are gerunds, and words ending in ‘-ed’ are sometimes past participles. In short, these so-called adjectives are actually formed from verbs and this is the key to understanding how to use them. (At least, it is for native speakers, and maybe for you too).
perceptive - 知覚の鋭い // notice - 気づく
gerund - 動名詞 // past participle - 過去分詞
in short - ようするに // so-called - いわゆる
the key to understanding - 理解する上での要(かなめ)
Let’s take the verb ‘tire’ and consider its various forms:
infinitive (動詞の原型): tire - 疲れさせる : “He tires me with his endless complaining” - 彼は、きりがない愚痴で私を疲れさせる。(ちょっと不自然な日本語かもしれないが、英語の動詞のニュアンスをつかんで見てください)
gerund (動名詞) : tiring - 疲れさせる(もの) : “His endless complaining is very tiring” - 彼のきりがない愚痴は(誰でもを)疲れさせる 。
past participle (過去分詞) : tired - 疲れさせられた : “I am tired of his endless complaining” - 私は、彼のきりがない愚痴に、疲れさせられています。
Can you get a feeling for the different uses of each part of the verb? Here’s another example using the verb ‘bore’ :
infinitive (原型) : bore - 退屈させる : “Pachinko bores me” - パチンコは、私に退屈させます。
gerund (動名詞) : boring - 退屈な(もの) : “Pachinko is boring” - パチンコは、(誰でもに)退屈なものだ。
past participle (過去分詞) : bored - 退屈させられた : “I am bored of pachinko” - 私は、もうパチンコに退屈させられた・私は、パチンコはもう飽きた。
Sometimes, you need to be careful with ‘-ing’ or ‘-ed’ adjectives. For example, “He is boring” (彼はつまらない人だ) and “He is bored” (彼は、(何も面白いすることがなくて)退屈です).
Well, I hope you can get a feeling for this tricky aspect of English grammar. I would like to introduce one more use of the ‘-ing’ form of verbs…
We often use ‘find + -ing’ to talk about what we think about something based on our personal experience. For example:
- I find pachinko boring. = (When I play pachinko,) I think pachinko is boring.
FIND + 目的語 + -ing形 can be used to talk about your feelings about something based on your own experience of it. For example, if you have never actually climbed Mount Fuji yourself then you cannot say:
- I find climbing Mount Fuji very tiring.
You have to speak from your own experience. Even if you haven’t actually climbed Mount Fuji yourself though, you could say :
- I find the idea of climbing Mount Fuji very tiring!
Of course, you can use this expression in the past or future tenses as well, and with other adjectives too :
- I found the whole procedure very tedious.
- I am sure you’ll find the concert very boring, but if you insist on going I don’t mind.
tedious - つまらない・うんざり・くだくだしい
Well, I hope you have found this little lesson useful - if you have any questions you can make a comment below, or post in the 日本人向けの英語 forum on the community bbs.
bamboo4 wrote:
the key to understanding - 理解する上での要(かねめ)= 要(かねめ)should be かなめ.
日本語としては、次のようにした方がよろしいでしょう。
“Pachinko bores me” - パチンコは、私を退屈させます。
boring - 退屈な(もの) : “Pachinko is boring” - パチンコは、退屈なものだ
Posted on 29-Sep-06 at 12:42 am | Permalink
bamboo4 wrote:
I forgot to add: 切がない is normally expressed as きりがない or you could say とめどもない.
Posted on 29-Sep-06 at 12:48 am | Permalink
ben wrote:
Thank you bamboo4 for those corrections.
Posted on 29-Sep-06 at 8:34 am | Permalink