I’ve Got a Feeling! – The “Sentir” Conjugation in Spanish

Have you checked in with your feelings lately? If so, that’s great! But have you done it in Spanish? We can certainly help you with that! In this article, we’ll go over the sentir conjugation in Spanish.

We’ll start by looking at what type of verb it is, its different meanings and its verbals. We’ll then move on to sentir conjugation basics and continue on to more advanced tenses. We’ll finish off with some extra vocabulary surrounding this verb. Let’s feel our way through this one!

What kind of verb is sentir?

Sentir is a stem-changing verb. This means it doesn’t follow the standard conjugation for verbs ending in “-ir.” The good news, though, is that its irregularities are pretty limited.

As you probably are tired of hearing by now, verbs in Spanish end either in “-ar,” “-er,” or “ir.” The rest of the verb, the one that comes before that, is called a stem. Stem-changing verbs, such as sentir, are those that change the last vowel of the stem in some conjugations. Sentir sometimes changes the “e” for an “ie” in some cases, as you’ll see in the conjugations below.

If you want to brush up on your stem-changing verbs, you can find more information in this article.

The meanings of sentir

While the sentir conjugation in Spanish is not that much of a challenge, its meaning can be. This verb can mean several different things depending on the context. We’ll take a look at this with some examples below.

To feel/sense

The most common meaning of sentir is to feel or sense. This can be emotions or sensations. If your spidey senses are tingling, this is the meaning of sentir that would come into play.

• Me siento un poco cansada. (I feel a bit tired.)
• Ella se siente triste. (She feels sad.)
• Sentimos el calor intenso del verano. (We feel the intense summer heat.)

To hear

You can also use sentir in Spanish when you hear a noise or sound.

• Siento pasos en el pasillo. (I hear steps in the hallway.)
• ¿Sienten el viento? (Can you hear the wind?)

To be sorry/regret

Finally, sentir can also mean to regret or be sorry about something.

• Lo siento mucho. (I’m so sorry.)
• Siento mucho lo que hice. (I really regret what I’ve done.)

Sentir vs. sentirse

Before we dive into the sentir conjugation in Spanish, we have one last clarification about this verb. Sentir in Spanish has two forms: the normal sentir and its pronominal or reflexive form sentirse.

So, what’s the difference between these two? While “sentir” means to feel or sense something external, “sentirse” means to feel something internally. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples.

Sentir

• Siento que la casa está temblando (I feel like the house is shaking.)
• Mis hermanos sienten que no te caen bien. (My siblings feel like you don’t like them.)

Sentirse

• Me siento enferma. (I feel sick)
• Pablo y José se sienten muy bien. (Pablo and José are feeling great.)

Pronominal or reflexive verbs just add the reflexive pronoun when conjugated. You can learn more about these pronouns here.

Verbals of sentir: infinitive, gerund and participle

Now that we know our initial feelings on the verb sentir, it’s time to focus on its conjugations. We’ll start by looking at its verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. Verbals function as nouns, adjectives and adverbs instead of actual verbs. This may sound confusing, but we promise it’s quite straightforward and we’ll give you plenty of examples.

Infinitive

Sentir (to feel/hear)

• Me voy a sentir solo. (I’ll feel lonely.)

Gerund

Sintiendo (feeling/hearing)

• Están sintiendo la falta de sol. (They are really feeling the lack of sunshine.)

Participle

Sentido (felt//heard)

• Me he sentido muy mal. (I’ve felt really bad/poorly.)
• Si no hubieses sentido el timbre, hubiese esperado por horas. (Had you not heard the doorbell, I would’ve been waiting for hours.)

Sentir conjugation in Spanish for all levels

I Feel Fine: sentir conjugation for beginners

The Spanish indicative mood has ten tenses, so we’ll start with the most common and simplest forms. Below, we’ll take a look at the sentir conjugation of the indicative mood for the presente (present), pretérito imperfecto (imperfect preterite, a form of the past tense), pretérito perfecto (perfect preterite, another form of the past tense) and futuro (future) tenses.

Subject	Present	Imperfect Preterite	Perfect Preterite	Future
Yo (I)	siento	sentía	sentí	sentiré
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	sientes sentís	sentías	sentiste	sentirás
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	siente	sentía	sintió	sentirá
Nosotros (We)	sentimos	sentíamos	sentimos	sentiremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	sentís sienten	sentíais sienten	sentisteis sintieron	sentiréis sentirán
Ellos (Them)	sienten	sentían	sintieron	sentirán

Sentir conjugation examples for beginners

• Present: Siento mucho calor. (I feel very hot.)
• Imperfect preterite: ¡Hace años que no me sentía así! (It’s been ages since I’ve felt this way!)
• Perfect preterite: ¿Sentiste ese ruido? (Did you hear that noise?)
• Future: ¿Cómo te sentirás si no te disculpas? (How will you feel if you don’t apologize?)

Feel Good Inc: sentir conjugation for intermediate students

You now know how to tell others how you feel. But it’s time to kick things up a notch. We’ll dive deeper into our hearts with the compound tenses of the sentir conjugation in the Spanish indicative mood.

The key to compound tenses in Spanish is mastering the haber conjugation. Compound tenses in Spanish are formed with the correct form of the verb haber + the past participle of the verb in question (i.e., sentido), which is the one that carries the meaning.

In the table below, you’ll find the pretérito perfecto (preterite perfect), pluscuamperfecto (pluperfect) and futuro compuesto (future perfect) tenses of the sentir conjugation in Spanish. You might also consider looking at our article on the haber conjugation for some extra help.

Subject	Preterite Perfect	Pluperfect	Future Perfect
Yo (I)	he sentido	había sentido	habré sentido
Tu/Vos (You)	has sentido	habías sentido	habrás sentido
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	ha sentido	había sentido	habrá sentido
Nosotros (We)	hemos sentido	habíamos sentido	habremos sentido
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	habéis sentido han sentido	habíais sentido habían sentido	habréis sentido habrán sentido
Ellos (Them)	han sentido	habían sentido	habrán sentido

Sentir conjugation examples for intermediate level

• Preterite perfect: Los niños han sentido mucho frío anoche. (The children felt really cold last night.)
• Pluperfect: Lo había sentido mucho. (He/She had been very sorry.)
• Future perfect: ¿Habrán sentido el terremoto en la ciudad? (Would they have felt the earthquake in the city?)

I Feel the Earth Moving: sentir conjugation for advanced learners

Are you ready to confess your deepest, darkest feelings? In this section, we’ll cover the subjunctive mood. This Spanish mood is quite moody itself as it is used to express doubts, emotions, desires, and the unknown! In this section, we’ll cover the presente (present), imperfecto (imperfect) and futuro (future) tenses for the sentir conjugation.

Subject	Present	Imperfect	Future
Yo (I)	sienta	sintiera o sintiese	sintiere
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	sientas	sintieras o sintieses	sintieres
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	sienta	sintiera o sintiese	sintiere
Nosotros (We)	sintamos	sintiéramos o sintiésemos	sintiéremos
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	sintáis sientan	sintierais o sintieseis sintieran o sintiesen	sintiereis sintieren
Ellos (Them)	sientan	sintieran o sintiesen	sintieren

Sentir conjugation examples for advanced learners

• Present: ¡Ojalá te sientas mejor pronto! (I hope you feel better soon!)
• Imperfect: No me gustaría que te sintieras así. (I wouldn’t like you to feel that way.)
• Future: Cuando cualquiera sintiere la plaga en su corazón… (When each one knows the plague of his own heart…)

The subjunctive future is rarely heard in conversation nowadays. This tense has been relegated mainly to literature or legal contexts. You may run into it in texts like the Bible, which is where our example is from.

Feels Like Christmas: extra sentir conjugation in Spanish

Are you confident in your language abilities? So are we! That is why, in this section, we’ll cover three more tenses: the condicional simple (simple conditional), the condicional compuesto (conditional perfect), and the imperative.

Subject	Simple Conditional	Conditional Perfect	Imperative
Yo (I)	sentiría	habría sentido
Tu (You) Vos (Latin America)	sentirías	habrías sentido	¡siente! ¡sentí!
Usted (You, formal) El/Ella (He/She/It)	sentiría	habría sentido	¡sienta!
Nosotros (We)	sentiríamos	habríamos sentido	¡sintamos!
Vosotros (You, plural) Ustedes (Latin America)	sentiríais sentirían	habríais sentido habrían sentido	¡sentid! ¡sientan!
Ellos (Them)	sentirían	habrían sentido	¡sientan!

Sentir conjugation examples in the conditional tenses

• Simple conditional: Si prendieras la estufa, no sentirías tanto frío. (You wouldn’t be so cold if you turned on the heater.)
• Conditional perfect: Aunque llamaras, no hubiese sentido nada. Estaba durmiendo. (Even if you had called, I wouldn’t’ve heard a thing. I was asleep.)
• Imperative: ¡Sentid esta alegría! (Feel this joy!)

If you want to learn more about conditional tenses, you should give this article a read.

Nouns and adjectives stemming from sentir

Some of the forms of sentir also function as nouns or adjectives. We know this can seem confusing, so we’ll review them below.

Sentir as a noun

As a noun, sentir can mean “feeling” or “opinion.”

• En mi sentir, la familia es lo más importante. (In my opinion, family is what matters most.)
• No puedo dejar de lado este sentir. (I can’t ignore this feeling.)

Sentido as a noun

As a noun, sentido has many meanings. We’ll look at each of these below with an example.

Sense

Mi sentido del olfato es perfecto. (My sense of smell is perfect.)

Logic

Esto no tiene sentido. (This makes no sense.)

Meaning

No entiendo el sentido de tus palabras. (I don’t understand the meaning of your words.)

Direction

Estás conduciendo en el sentido opuesto. (You are driving in the wrong lane.)

As an adjective, sentido means sensitive or heartfelt. For example:

• Su discurso fue muy sentido. (His/Her speech was extremely heartfelt.)
• Está un poco sentida. (She is a little hurt/sensitive.)

Sentir conjugation – conclusion

We hope this guide on the sentir conjugation in Spanish has answered your question regarding this verb. If you want to learn more about Spanish conjugations in general, feel free to check out our overview of Spanish tenses.