Sentirse Conjugation: Free Spanish Lesson and Quiz

Feeling good about learning how to use the sentirse conjugation? What does it mean? Sentir is an irregular and stem-changing verb that means “to feel”. It is part of the –ir verbs in Spanish such as decir (say), conducir (drive), elegir (choose), and venir (come). 

Today, we’ll learn this Spanish conjugación in multiple forms, encompassing three moods:

• indicative mood 
• the subjunctive mood 
• and the imperative mood

Read ahead to find every tense of the sentirse conjugation and examples. 

At the end of the blog post, there is a multiple-choice quiz so you can test your newly acquired knowledge. Also, I am giving you useful information about bilingualism and how to learn Spanish faster.

¿Te sientes listo?
Feeling ready?

The Ultimate Guide to Sentirse Conjugation

If you are not familiar with the tenses of the sentirse conjugation, don’t worry! I’ve got your back! I am breaking down every single one for you with translations and examples.

Sentirse Conjugation: Verbals

For the verbo sentir, there are two forms of sentirse that you need to learn.

1. Conjugation of haber + past participle of sentirse
2. Conjugation of estar + gerund form of sentirse

The infinitive form of the verb is sentir, sentirse.
The past participle of sentirse is sentido.
The gerund form of sentirse is sintiendo, sintiéndose.

These compound tenses involve using the helping verbs haber and estar. The conjugation changes in these tenses happen in the helping verb, while the form of sentirse stays the same. 

Let’s see them in action:

¿Te gusta sentir calor?
Do you like to feel warm?

Me arrepiento de haberme sentido molesto.
I regret that I felt upset.

Él se está sintiendo avergonzado.
He is feeling ashamed.

Sentirse: a Reflexive Verb

Sentirse is a reflexive verb. That means that it uses the reflexive pronouns: me, te, se, nos, to clarify who is feeling an emotion. Each one responds to a specific pronoun:

• Yo me
• Tú te
• Él, ella, usted se
• Nosotros nos
• Ustedes, ellos se

In the specific case of the sentirse conjugation, using the reflexive pronouns changes the meaning of the sentence a little bit. Without it, you can use it to describe a feeling as a noun. With it, you describe that feeling as an adjective. See for yourself:

Yo siento felicidad.
I feel happiness.

Yo me siento feliz.
I feel happy.

Sentirse Conjugation: Indicative Mood

The indicative mood has the most basic tenses of the Spanish verb sentirse. By learning the present simple, past simple, future simple, past imperfect, and conditional you will understand basic expressions and conversation with sentirse.

Present simple

The present tense of the sentirse verb is the most common one. The stem changes to sient- in most cases.

Nos sentimos avergonzados por lo que pasó, por favor discúlpenos.
We feel ashamed about what happened, please forgive us.

Ellas no se sienten felices el día de hoy.
They don’t feel happy today.

Me siento tranquilo con mi decisión.
I feel comfortable with my decision.

The usted sentirse conjugation is the same as in él and ella though it means “you” in a formal way. 

Be careful! The words siento, sientas, sienta, and sientan are also conjugations of the verb sentar that means “to sit”. You can avoid confusing them by double-checking the context. This also happens with the present subjunctive.

Past Simple

In the past tense  —also called preterite tense or pretérito indefinido — the sentirse conjugation has a stem change with 2 out of 5 pronouns. 

Tú te sentiste frustrado por no pasar el examen.
You felt frustrated for not passing the exam.

Usted se sintió muy bien después de darse un baño.
You felt great after having a bath.

¿Te sentiste sola?
Did you feel lonely?

As you can see, the nosotros conjugation in both past tense and present tense is the same. Once again the only way of telling them apart is to look at the context.

Past Imperfect

“Used to” is the meaning of the past imperfect form.

Yo me sentía importante en mi primer trabajo. 
I used to feel important in my first job.

Ustedes se sentían agobiados en la preparatoria.
You used to feel overwhelmed in high school.

Él se sentía tonto cuando no contestaba correctamente.
He used to feel foolish when he didn’t answer correctly.

In the past imperfect tense the sentirse conjugation for yo and él, ella, usted, is the same.

Future Simple

In the future tense, the stem stays the same and every conjugación starts with sent-, they all translate to “will feel”.

Yo me sentiré mejor cuando coma sano.
I will feel better when I eat healthy.

Te sentirás bien cuando te dé las buenas noticias. 
You will feel good when I give you the good news.

Nosotros nos sentiremos tristes cuando te mudes fuera de la ciudad.
We will feel sad when you move out of the city.

Conditional

In the conditional form of the verb sentirse, the stem stays the same and the translation to English is “would feel”.

¿Se sentiría interesado si le hago un descuento?
Would you be interested if I give you a discount?

Ustedes se sentirían menos ansiosos si durmieran más tiempo.
You would feel less anxious if you slept more time.

Ellos se sentirían agotados si corrieran un maratón.
They would feel exhausted if they ran a marathon.

Sentirse Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

We use the subjunctive mood to talk about hypotheses, hopes, wishes, or uncertainty. This is a more advanced mode of the Spanish verb sentirse. The forms of this mood are the present, past, past perfect, and future subjunctive. The latter one is rarely used, so I did not include it in this lesson.

Present Subjunctive

El que tú te sientas limpio no significa que lo estés. 
Just because you feel clean, doesn’t mean that you are. 

Lo que quiero es que nos sintamos bien estando con el otro. 
What I want is for us to feel good being with each other. 

El que ustedes se sientan desvalidos me da mucha tristeza.
The fact that you feel helpless makes me very sad. 

Past Subjunctive

Si yo me sintiera gordo, haría ejercicio.  
If I felt fat, I would do exercise.

Sería mejor que usted se sintiera con ánimos. 
It would be better if you felt up to it.

Me gustaría que todos ustedes se sintieran con la confianza de decirme la verdad.
I would like all of you to feel confident telling me the truth.

Past Perfect Subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive is also known as el pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo (pluperfect subjunctive) in Spanish, believe it or not. But don’t let the name scare you! It is used to explain past hypothetical situations that precede hypothetical outcomes. They often sound like a form of regret or scolding. 

For the past perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the sentirse verb.

Yo me hubiese sentido enojado si me hubieras mentido.
I would have felt angry if you had lied to me.

Ella se hubiera sentido torpe si se hubiera caído.
She would have felt awkward if she had fallen.

Usted se hubiese sentido fatigado de haber subido todas las escaleras.
You would have felt tired if you had gone up all the stairs. 

Si te hubieses sentido un ganador, tus posibilidades hubieran sido mayores. 
If you had felt like a winner, your chances would have been better.

Present Perfect Subjunctive

In the present perfect subjunctive or pretérito perfecto del subjuntivo, you can perceive connections from past actions to the present. They still have an effect today although they could have happened a long time ago.

For the perfect subjunctive tense, we use the auxiliary verb haber and the past participle of the sentirse verb.

El que yo me haya sentido mal arruinó el viaje.
That I have felt bad ruined the trip.

Me alegra que te hayas sentido libre después de graduarte. 
I am glad you felt free after graduating.

El que ustedes no se hayan sentido emocionados con la sorpresa me decepciona.
The fact that you didn’t feel excited about the surprise, angers me.

El que hayamos sentido frío provocó que compráramos suéteres. 
The fact that we have felt cold caused us to buy sweaters.  

Sentirse Conjugation: Imperative Mood

We use the imperative mood to give orders or commands. 

¡Siéntete orgulloso de tus logros!
Feel proud of your achievements! 

¡No se sientan tristes!
Do not feel bad!

¡No nos sintamos derrotados, sigamos adelante! 
Let’s not feel defeated, let’s move on!

The ustedes and usted sentirse conjugations are used as a formal command. It may sound a bit weird to give orders to someone that belongs to a higher hierarchy or that is older or that deserves a lot of respect. But imagine a scenario where you can cheer them up like the examples above. More than an order, it sounds optimistic.

The imperative mood emphasizes the verb, as the sentence normally starts with it unless it is a negative form.

Just A Little Bit Of Slang!

Here’s a couple of colloquial sayings and expressions in case you want to sound native. As you have learned in this lesson, the sentirse conjugation is used to describe clear feelings, and weathers, but these examples are different:

Me sentí perro.

Literal translation: I felt dog or I felt like a dog.
What it means: I felt really ashamed or guilt-ridden.

No te sientas.

Literal translation: Don’t feel yourself.
What it means: Don’t be hurt.

Ella se siente mucho.

Literal translation. She feels a lot.
What it means: She feels like she’s a big deal.

Usted se siente a gusto.

Literal translation. You feel as you like.
What it means: You feel comfortable or at ease.

Ok, now that you have finished this sentirse conjugation class, it’s time to practice what we’ve covered!

Sentirse Conjugation Exercises

To test with your newfound knowledge of sentirse conjugation, practice using the following exercises! You can check your work with the answer key below.

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Nicole Canún

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Blogger, content creator, and marketer. Proudly Mexican. Been to 30 countries. I love learning from different cultures and trying their cuisines. Obsessed with Asia. Fluent in Spanish and English, not so much in French.

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