Bored/Missing...

[lady-of-the-sea.livejournal.com]

Hello!

Somehow in class, my teacher managed to tell us that the verb скучать means both to be missing someone or something, and to be bored. Unfortunately, she didn't make it very clear how the meaning changes, or what the rules are. I'd hate to say I'm bored with someone, when I mean to say that I miss them. Help?

Thanks ^.^

Comments

[zhirafov-nyet.livejournal.com]

Скучать по (+dative) = to miss someone/something.

[lady-of-the-sea.livejournal.com]

So is it just the adjective spelled similarly (скучно) that means boring? No relation to the verb?

[zhirafov-nyet.livejournal.com]

Скучный is indeed related to the verb (скучно is the adverb), and скучать alone means "to be bored", but when the preposition по follows the verb, it means "to miss".
This is just what I've gathered from my understanding of it though...

[lady-of-the-sea.livejournal.com]

That makes sense ^.^ Thanks a bunch!

[oryx_and_crake]

Yes, this is correct.

Мне скучно./Я скучаю. I am bored.
Этот фильм очень скучный. This movie is rather boring.
Моя мама уехала, и я по ней скучаю. My mother left, and I miss her.

[vakhitov.livejournal.com]

One little caveat in the colloquial usage of скучать is that the preposition can be implied. For example, if a girl writes "Я скучаю! :-*" SMS to her boyfriend, chances are she means that she misses him.

[oryx_and_crake]

P.S. Can be also Я скучаю без нее. (meaning I miss her)

There is also a proverb in which I believe the word скучно has a little of both meanings at once:

Вместе тесно, а врозь скучно.
Together, we quarrel (literally there is not enough room), and apart we miss each other/are bored.
(About children who quarrel or fight when playing together, but when separated, they miss each other or are just bored because they don't know how to pass the time.)

[lady-of-the-sea.livejournal.com]

Спасибо!
It's a lot more clear now ^.^

[nastya-23.livejournal.com]

No, "соскучилась?" means only "Do you miss smb/smth?"
"Скучаешь?" has two these meanings depending on context.

[katiroma.livejournal.com]

if you're bored with someone, you can say that "он тебе наскУчил".