Annoiarsi (to be bored, to get bored) is the reflexive everyday Italians reach for whenever a film drags, a meeting overruns, or a sleepy afternoon refuses to end. The transitive verb annoiare means "to bore someone" (il film mi ha annoiato — the film bored me); the reflexive annoiarsi flips the action onto the subject and means "to be bored, to get bored." Like its emotional cousins divertirsi, arrabbiarsi, innamorarsi, it belongs to the -are pure reflexive family and is fully regular — but it carries one orthographic quirk that trips every learner at least once: the single-i rule in the tu form.
The verb's stem ends in -i (annoi-). Italian orthographic convention says: when an ending starts with -i, the two i's collapse into one. So tu annoi (not tu annoii), noi annoiamo (not noi annoiiamo), and so on. This is the single most-mistyped feature of the verb, and it applies wherever a stem ends in -i and meets an ending in -i.
Indicativo presente
| Person | Form | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| io | mi annoio | /mi anˈnɔjo/ |
| tu | ti annoi | /ti anˈnɔi/ |
| lui / lei / Lei | si annoia | /si anˈnɔja/ |
| noi | ci annoiamo | /tʃi annoˈjamo/ |
| voi | vi annoiate | /vi annoˈjate/ |
| loro | si annoiano | /si anˈnɔjano/ |
The double nn is part of the spelling and never collapses. The 1sg and 3pl keep two visible vowels (annoio, annoiano) because the endings start with consonants or non-i vowels. The 2sg form is ti annoi with just one i: stem annoi- + ending -i would technically be annoii, but the convention drops the second i. The same logic gives noi annoiamo (not annoiiamo) — stem annoi- + ending -iamo simplifies to annoiamo.
Mi annoio a morte in queste riunioni interminabili.
I'm bored to death in these endless meetings.
Ti annoi in classe? Sembri sempre distratto.
Are you bored in class? You always look distracted.
Mio padre si annoia se non ha qualcosa da fare in giardino.
My dad gets bored if he doesn't have something to do in the garden.
Ci annoiamo se piove tutto il fine settimana.
We get bored if it rains all weekend.
Vi annoiate mai la sera in campagna?
Do you guys ever get bored in the countryside in the evenings?
I bambini si annoiano facilmente — bisogna inventare sempre qualcosa di nuovo.
Kids get bored easily — you always have to come up with something new.
Imperfetto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | mi annoiavo |
| tu | ti annoiavi |
| lui / lei / Lei | si annoiava |
| noi | ci annoiavamo |
| voi | vi annoiavate |
| loro | si annoiavano |
Regular -are imperfetto on the stem annoia- (the i is kept because the imperfetto endings begin with -a, not -i, so no collapse occurs). The imperfetto is the natural tense for describing chronic past boredom ("I used to be bored on Sundays") and states of boredom in progress ("I was bored when she walked in").
Da bambino mi annoiavo a morte alle messe della domenica.
As a kid I was bored to death at Sunday Mass.
Si annoiava sempre alle cene di lavoro di suo marito.
She was always bored at her husband's work dinners.
Passato remoto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | mi annoiai |
| tu | ti annoiasti |
| lui / lei / Lei | si annoiò |
| noi | ci annoiammo |
| voi | vi annoiaste |
| loro | si annoiarono |
Completely regular. Note the 3sg si annoiò with a grave accent on the stressed final -ò (without it, annoio is the 1sg present — entirely different person). The 1sg mi annoiai keeps both i's because the ending starts with -a-, not -i-.
Quel pomeriggio si annoiò così tanto che si addormentò sul divano.
That afternoon he got so bored he fell asleep on the couch.
Futuro semplice
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | mi annoierò |
| tu | ti annoierai |
| lui / lei / Lei | si annoierà |
| noi | ci annoieremo |
| voi | vi annoierete |
| loro | si annoieranno |
The future stem is annoier- — note that the i is kept between the stem and the future endings, even though the orthographic rule would suggest dropping it. This is the universal convention for -iare verbs in the future and conditional: studiare → studierò, cambiare → cambierò, mangiare → mangerò (this last one drops the i for a different reason: phonetic pressure from the soft g). For annoiare, the i is preserved: annoierò, annoierai, annoierà, etc. The 1sg mi annoierò carries the obligatory grave accent on the final -ò.
Senza il telefono mi annoierò moltissimo durante il volo.
Without my phone I'll be terribly bored during the flight.
Vi annoierete a morte se non porto qualche libro.
You'll be bored to death if I don't bring some books.
Condizionale presente
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | mi annoierei |
| tu | ti annoieresti |
| lui / lei / Lei | si annoierebbe |
| noi | ci annoieremmo |
| voi | vi annoiereste |
| loro | si annoierebbero |
Same annoier- stem as the future, with conditional endings. The 1pl ci annoieremmo has the double m characteristic of the conditional — single-m ci annoieremo is the future "we will be bored." This minimal pair is the most-flubbed spelling distinction in Italian.
Senza musica e senza libri mi annoierei a morte.
Without music and without books I'd be bored to death.
Congiuntivo presente
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (che) io | mi annoi |
| (che) tu | ti annoi |
| (che) lui / lei | si annoi |
| (che) noi | ci annoiamo |
| (che) voi | vi annoiate |
| (che) loro | si annoino |
The single-i rule strikes again: the singular forms are mi/ti/si annoi (not annoii), since the subjunctive ending -i plus the stem annoi- would produce a forbidden double i. The 3pl si annoino preserves a single i (stem annoi- + ending -no, with the standard -are subjunctive simplification). The 1pl ci annoiamo is identical to the indicative — context resolves it.
Spero che non ti annoi durante la lezione di storia.
I hope you don't get bored during the history lesson.
È strano che si annoino così tanto a casa dei nonni.
It's strange that they get so bored at their grandparents' house.
Congiuntivo imperfetto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (che) io | mi annoiassi |
| (che) tu | ti annoiassi |
| (che) lui / lei | si annoiasse |
| (che) noi | ci annoiassimo |
| (che) voi | vi annoiaste |
| (che) loro | si annoiassero |
Used in counterfactuals (se non mi annoiassi così, resterei) and in past-tense subjunctive contexts (pensavo che si annoiasse).
Se non mi annoiassi così tanto al lavoro, non penserei di cambiare.
If I weren't so bored at work, I wouldn't be thinking of switching.
Imperativo
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu (negative usual) | non annoiarti! / non ti annoiare! |
| Lei (formal) | non si annoi! |
| noi | non annoiamoci! |
| voi | non annoiatevi! |
| loro (formal pl.) | non si annoino! |
Because getting bored isn't something you do on command, the imperative of annoiarsi almost always appears in the negative ("Don't get bored!") as a friendly send-off. The affirmative form annoiati! is grammatically possible but rare in everyday use — Italians are far more likely to say divertiti! as the parting word.
Non annoiarti troppo da solo — ti chiamo stasera.
Don't get too bored on your own — I'll call you tonight.
Non annoiatevi durante la conferenza, è solo un'ora.
Don't get bored during the lecture, it's only an hour.
Forme non finite
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Infinito presente | annoiarsi |
| Infinito passato | essersi annoiato/a/i/e |
| Gerundio presente | annoiandosi |
| Gerundio passato | essendosi annoiato/a/i/e |
| Participio passato | annoiato/a/i/e |
The participle annoiato doubles as the everyday adjective for "bored": sembri annoiato ("you look bored"), un'espressione annoiata ("a bored expression"). It agrees with the noun it modifies in gender and number.
Annoiandosi a morte, si è messa a guardare il soffitto.
Bored to death, she started staring at the ceiling.
Compound tenses: always essere, with subject agreement
Like every Italian reflexive, annoiarsi takes essere in compound tenses, and the participle agrees with the subject. The non-reflexive annoiare (transitive: "to bore someone") takes avere ("il film mi ha annoiato" — the film bored me), but the moment you make it reflexive, the auxiliary flips to essere.
| Tense | Form (1sg masc.) | Form (1sg fem.) |
|---|---|---|
| Passato prossimo | mi sono annoiato | mi sono annoiata |
| Trapassato prossimo | mi ero annoiato | mi ero annoiata |
| Trapassato remoto | mi fui annoiato | mi fui annoiata |
| Futuro anteriore | mi sarò annoiato | mi sarò annoiata |
| Condizionale passato | mi sarei annoiato | mi sarei annoiata |
| Congiuntivo passato | mi sia annoiato | mi sia annoiata |
| Congiuntivo trapassato | mi fossi annoiato | mi fossi annoiata |
Mi sono annoiata a morte alla cena di lavoro di mio marito.
I (female) was bored to death at my husband's work dinner.
Ti sei annoiato al museo o ti è piaciuto?
Were you bored at the museum or did you like it?
I bambini si sono annoiati subito — il film era troppo lungo per loro.
The kids got bored quickly — the film was too long for them.
Annoiarsi a + infinitive
The standard construction for "to be bored doing something" is annoiarsi a + infinitive:
Mi annoio a leggere romanzi storici — preferisco i gialli.
I get bored reading historical novels — I prefer mysteries.
Si annoiavano a stare seduti per ore senza fare niente.
They were bored sitting for hours without doing anything.
Annoiare vs annoiarsi: transitive vs reflexive
The transitive annoiare ("to bore someone") and the reflexive annoiarsi ("to be bored") are two halves of the same coin. The transitive takes a direct object (a thing or person being bored) and uses avere:
Il film mi ha annoiato dall'inizio alla fine.
The film bored me from start to finish. (transitive — avere)
Mi sono annoiato dall'inizio alla fine del film.
I was bored from start to finish of the film. (reflexive — essere)
Both sentences describe the same situation, but the syntactic perspective is different. The transitive version puts the film in the subject role; the reflexive version puts the speaker in the subject role.
Idiomatic uses
A handful of fixed phrases anchor the verb:
- annoiarsi a morte — to be bored to death (the universal intensifier)
- morire di noia — to die of boredom (uses the related noun noia)
- che noia! — "what a bore!" (an exclamation, very common)
- non annoiare! — "don't be a pest!" (colloquial, semi-affectionate)
- una noia mortale — a deadly bore (intensifier as a noun phrase)
The colloquial non annoiare! drifts away from boredom into general "don't be annoying" — a shift in meaning Italian shares with French embêter and Spanish fastidiar. Children especially hear this from a tired parent: Non annoiare la mamma! ("Don't bother Mom!").
Che noia! Non c'è niente di interessante in questo museo.
How boring! There's nothing interesting in this museum.
Non annoiare il nonno, sta cercando di leggere il giornale.
Don't bother Grandpa, he's trying to read the paper.
Etymology
Annoiare comes from Late Latin inodiāre (in + odium, "in/into hatred"), the same root that gives English annoy and odious. The Latin verb meant "to make hateful, to be hateful to" — and the meaning gradually softened from "to be hateful" through "to be a nuisance" to the modern "to bore." The related noun noia ("boredom, nuisance") preserves the older sense in fixed phrases like che noia! and morire di noia.
The reflexive annoiarsi is built by attaching -si to the infinitive, with the standard reflexive logic: literally "to make oneself hateful/bored."
Common mistakes
❌ Tu ti annoii in classe?
Incorrect — the single-i rule applies. Two i's collapse to one.
✅ Tu ti annoi in classe?
Correct — ti annoi with a single i.
❌ Noi ci annoiiamo facilmente.
Incorrect — single-i rule again: stem 'annoi-' + ending '-iamo' collapses to 'annoiamo'.
✅ Noi ci annoiamo facilmente.
Correct — ci annoiamo with one i.
❌ Ho mi annoiato al cinema.
Incorrect — pronoun must precede the auxiliary, and the auxiliary must be essere, not avere.
✅ Mi sono annoiato al cinema.
Correct — pronoun first, then essere, then participle.
❌ Maria si è annoiato al concerto.
Incorrect — with essere, the participle must agree with the feminine subject.
✅ Maria si è annoiata al concerto.
Correct — annoiata with feminine -a ending.
❌ Mi annoio leggere il giornale.
Incorrect — annoiarsi takes 'a' before an infinitive.
✅ Mi annoio a leggere il giornale.
Correct — annoiarsi a + infinitive.
❌ Il libro mi sono annoiato.
Incorrect — when 'the book' is the subject, you need the transitive 'annoiare' with avere.
✅ Il libro mi ha annoiato. / Mi sono annoiato leggendo il libro.
Correct — either 'the book bored me' (transitive avere) or 'I was bored reading the book' (reflexive essere).
Key takeaways
The single-i rule is the trap to internalise: stem annoi-
- ending -i = annoi (not annoii); + ending -iamo = annoiamo (not annoiiamo). This applies in the present indicative tu, noi, and singular subjunctive forms.
Future and conditional keep the i: mi annoierò, mi annoierei. The i never collapses here — Italian preserves it for distinctness from the future of other -are verbs.
All reflexives take essere with subject agreement: mi sono annoiato (m.), mi sono annoiata (f.). Never ho annoiato for "I was bored" — that would mean "I bored someone."
The transitive annoiare (with avere) still exists and means "to bore someone": il film mi ha annoiato. Use the reflexive when you (the subject) are the one being bored.
Annoiarsi a + infinitive is the standard "to be bored doing X" pattern. Don't drop the a.
For the antonym, see divertirsi. For the broader logic of pronoun placement and auxiliary choice, see the reflexive overview.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Reflexive Verbs: OverviewA1 — How Italian uses reflexive pronouns to mark verbs whose subject and object are the same — and why Italian uses reflexives in many places where English uses no pronoun at all.
- True Reflexive VerbsA1 — When the subject genuinely acts on themselves — daily routine, body parts, and the elegant way Italian handles 'my hair, my hands, my face' without ever saying 'my'.
- Divertirsi: Full Conjugation (Reflexive)A2 — Complete paradigm of divertirsi (to have fun, to enjoy oneself) — a regular -ire pure reflexive that English speakers must learn carefully because English uses no pronoun where Italian demands one.
- Arrabbiarsi: Full Conjugation (Reflexive)A2 — Complete paradigm of arrabbiarsi (to get angry) — a regular -are reflexive with the i-stem rule and the critical preposition 'con' for the person you're angry at, never 'a'.
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