Many adjectives have two forms. One ends in ‘ing’ and the other in ‘ed’.

Why is this? Well, the meaning is quite different.

Tired and tiring are both adjectives. So, what’s the difference?

Adjectives ending in ‘ed’ describe a temporary emotion or feeling. However, adjectives ending in ‘ing’ describe an innate or inherent quality of a person or thing.

example: At the end of the week I am very tired because my job is tiring. Or, The students are always bored in class because they have a boring teacher.

In the first example we can see that my job is inherently tiring and that is the cause of my temporary feeling of being tired. In the second example we see that the teacher is innately boring which causes the students to be temporarily bored while they are in class with their boring teacher.

Does that help clear things up? Let us know what you think in the comments.