8 ways to say I'm bored in Korean (심심해, 귀찮아 and the difference)
English makes one word do a lot of work: you are bored on a Sunday, bored by a lecture, too bored to wash the dishes. Korean splits those. There is a word for having nothing to do, a different one for something being dull, and a third for the specific heaviness of not being able to face a task.
Feelings like these get said mostly to friends, so several lines below are casual (반말); the polite 요 versions are given where you would use them with someone less close.
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심심해요.
simsimhaeyo.
I'm bored.
Bored because there is nothing to do, not bored by something. The word for a slow Sunday afternoon. Texting a friend 심심해 in casual speech is a soft invitation to make plans.
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지루해요.
jiruhaeyo.
It's boring.
Bored by something: a lecture, a film, a meeting that will not end. Swap it with 심심하다 and Koreans will understand but notice; 심심 is about you, 지루 is about the thing.
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귀찮아요.
gwichanayo.
I can't be bothered.
Not wanting to deal with something, from the dishes to a person who keeps messaging. About chores it is universal and harmless; about a person it is harsh, so watch who hears it.
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하기 싫어.
hagi sireo.
I don't want to do it.
Casual, to friends and to yourself. 싫다 is stronger than 'do not want'; it is dislike. The polite 하기 싫어요 to a colleague is a complaint rather than a refusal, and still a bit blunt.
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아무것도 안 하고 싶어요.
amugeotdo an hago sipeoyo.
I don't want to do anything.
The full-body version of 귀찮아요. The activity Koreans name for this state is 뒹굴뒹굴, the sound-word for rolling around in bed doing nothing, as in 집에서 뒹굴뒹굴했어요.
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뭐 재미있는 거 없어요?
mwo jaemiinneun geo eopseoyo?
Anything fun going on?
Literally: Is there not something fun?
The sociable way out of boredom. In a group chat it means somebody propose something. The negative question is normal Korean and not pessimistic.
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노잼이야.
nojaemiya.
It's no fun.
Casual slang, 노 (no) plus 재미 (fun), for a film, a party or a person; young and online rather than something to say to your boss. 핵노잼 is extremely no fun, and the opposite is 꿀잼.
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시간 때우고 있어요.
sigan ttaeugo isseoyo.
I'm killing time.
Literally: I'm filling up time.
때우다 means to patch a gap, which is what a wait at a station or an hour before a meeting feels like. The reply 뭐 하면서? (doing what?) usually follows.
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The useful distinction to carry away is 심심하다 against 지루하다: the first is a state you are in, the second a judgment on something else. Get those two right and 귀찮다 takes care of everything you would rather not do.