A Complete Guide: つまらない and くだらない

Have you heard about つまらない and くだらない? They sound pretty close, however, they are absolutely different from each other for natives. There are some cases that we feel つまらない about something, but it is not くだらない in our daily life. Let me introduce what the difference between つまらない and くだらない are today.

つまらない (tsumaranai)

Uninteresting / Boring / Snooze

つまらない is used as the meaning that someone doesn’t want to do something anymore because that is uninteresting, boring or snooze for him/her. However, it does not mean nonsense, stupid, worthless and silly such as くだらない.

"入" Kanji Course (JLPT-5)

2020.01.16

Example

ゆか
つまらないねー。 (It’s boring.) (无聊啊。) (재미없다~) (Nhàm chán nhỉ!)

たつやつまらなそうな演説えんぜつっぽいね。 (The speech seems to be uninteresting.) (好像很无聊的演讲啊。) (지루해보이는 연설 같네.) (Bài phát biểu có vẻ nhàm chán nhỉ!)

ゆか
ほんとつまんない話はなしだね。 (That’s so boring story.）(真是无聊的话。) (정말 시시한 이야기네.) (Thật là câu chuyện nhàm chán nhỉ.)

くだらない (kudaranai)

Worthless / Nonsense / Stupid / Silly

くだらない means “worthless / nonsense / stupid / silly “. So,くだらない is the much stronger meaning than つまらない. If someone feels something boring, he/she could use つまらない and furthermore if someone feels something boring+worthless, he/she could use くだらない. So, つまらない is not worthless rather it may be worth. However, someone is just uninteresting.