Spanish Verb Sentirse Conjugation

The verb sentirse is a reflexive verb that means to feel. It is used to talk about how someone feels psychologically or physically. For example, Me siento feliz (I feel happy) or Nos sentimos cansados (We feel tired).

This verb can also be used as a non-reflexive verb, sentir, in which case it can have several different meanings. It can mean to feel or sense something, and sometimes it can even mean to taste or hear something. For example, Siento el viento en mi cara (I feel the wind on my face) or Siento sabor a chocolate en la bebida (I taste chocolate flavor in the beverage). Sentir can also mean to be sorry, as in the common expression lo siento (I'm sorry) or Siento que hayamos llegado tarde (I'm sorry that we arrived late).

Sentirse Conjugation

Since sentirse is most often used in its reflexive form, this article includes sentirse conjugations including the reflexive pronouns in the indicative mood (present, past, conditional, and future), the subjunctive mood (present and past), the imperative mood, and other verb forms.

Notice that sentirse is a stem-changing verb. This means that in some conjugations, when the vowel of the stem is in a stressed syllable, the e changes to ie and sometimes i. For example, the present tense first person singular conjugation is me siento, and the preterite third person conjugation singular conjugation is se sintió.

When conjugating sentirse, make sure to avoid confusion with the verb sentarse (to sit down), which has a very similar conjugation.

Present Indicative

When conjugating a reflexive verb, you must always include the reflexive pronoun before each conjugated verb. In the present tense, the stem change e to ie occurs in all the conjugations except nosotros and vosotros.

Preterite Indicative

You can use the preterite tense to describe completed actions in the past. In the preterite, there is a stem change e to i only for the third person singular and plural conjugations.

Imperfect Indicative

You can use the imperfect tense to describe actions in the past that were ongoing or repeated. It can be translated as "was feeling" or "used to feel." There are no stem changes in the imperfect.

Future Indicative

The future tense is conjugated with the infinitive form and the future tense endings (é, ás, á, emos, éis, án). There are no stem changes in the future tense, since the base for this conjugation is the complete infinitive, sentir.

Periphrastic Future Indicative 

The periphrastic future tense consists of three components, the verb ir (to go), the preposition a, and the infinitive sentir. The reflexive pronoun should be placed before the conjugated verb ir (to go).

Present Progressive/Gerund Form

The gerund or present participle can be used as an adverb or to form progressive tenses like the present progressive. For reflexive verbs in progressive tenses there are two options for placing the reflexive pronoun: before the conjugated auxiliary verb estar, or attached to the end of the present participle. Notice that the gerund for sentir has the stem change e to i.

Past Participle

The past participle can be used in perfect tenses like the present perfect. Note that the reflexive pronoun has to go before the conjugated auxiliary verb haber.

Conditional Indicative

The conditional tense is usually translated as "would + verb."

Present Subjunctive

Notice that in the present subjunctive all the conjugations have a stem change. However, the nosotros and vosotros conjugations only change from e to i, while the rest change from e to ie.

Imperfect Subjunctive

You can conjugate the imperfect subjunctive in two different ways; both forms require the stem change e to i.

Option 1

Option 2

Sentirse Imperative

To give direct orders or commands you can use the imperative mood. For reflexive verbs you must be careful where the pronoun is placed: in positive commands, it goes after the verb, while in negative commands, it goes before the verb.

Positive Commands

Negative Commands