Sentir Conjugation 101: Conjugate Sentir In Spanish

Sentir is a common -IR verb with E to IE  and E to I stem changes. Since this verb is not only common for your conversations but also to practice these patterns. In this guide, we’ll go over the sentir conjugation charts. Here is what you’ll learn:

• Sentir Overview
• Indicative Tenses of Sentir Conjugations
  • Present tense
  • Preterite tense
  • Imperfect tense
  • Near Future tense
  • Future tense
  • Conditional tense
  • Present Perfect tense
  • Past Perfect tense
  • Future Perfect tense
  • Conditional Perfect tense
  • Progressive tenses
• Subjunctive Tenses of Sentir Conjugations 
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Sentir Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Sentir Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Sentir Conjugation Practice Quiz

Overview of Sentir

Indicative Conjugations of Sentir

Present tense

Sentir present tense conjugations are formed with an E to IE stem change. However, ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’ don’t follow these changes. Use the present conjugations of sentir to talk about what or how people currently feel. For instance: ¿Cómo te sientes?

Preterite tense

Sentir’s preterite conjugations have an E to I stem change only for the third person singular and plural. You can see this change in the sentir conjugation chart below. We use these preterite forms to communicate what or how a person felt in the past. 

For example: ¿Sintieron el temblor?

Imperfect tense

When conjugated to the imperfect indicative tense, sentir doesn’t have stem changes. Conjugate sentir to the imperfect tense to describe how people or things used to feel for an extended period of time in the past. For example: No nos sentíamos muy bien.

Near future

The immediate or near future in Spanish  is formed with the structure ir (present tense) + a + infinitive verb (sentir, in this case). Use these sentir conjugations to express what or how a person is about to feel. Here is a sentence: Pronto vas a sentirte mejor. 

Future simple tense

Conjugate sentir to the future tense in Spanish to express what people will feel or be sorry for at some point in the future. Si no le dices algo, lo sentirás toda la vida. 

Conditional tense

Sentir conditional tense conjugation communicates what or how people would feel if an action was performed. You can also use these conjugations to guess how or what people would feel. 
For instance: No te sentirías así si fueras a ver a un doctor. 

Present perfect tense

To form the Spanish present perfect indicative tense, use the formula haber in the present tense + sentido (past participle). With these conjugations, sentir is used to talk about the things people have or haven’t felt. For instance: ¿Cómo se han sentido? 

Past perfect

The past perfect in Spanish is formed with the imperfect form of ‘haber’ and the past participle form of ‘sentir’. Conjugate sentir to this tense to communicate that a person had or hadn’t felt someway before a past action or the moment of speaking. 

For example: Nunca había sentido tanto frío. 

Future perfect

Sentir future perfect conjugations refer to the things people will have felt or been sorry for by or before a certain moment in the future. You can also use these future forms to talk about what someone might have felt. Para el lunes, ya te habrás sentido mejor. 

Conditional perfect

We use the sentir conditional perfect conjugations to express what or how someone would have felt if a past condition had been met. For example: Si te hubieras puesto un suéter, no habrías sentido tanto frío. 

Progressive tenses

Sentir’s Spanish progressive forms allow you to convey how or what someone is feeling at the moment of speaking. These tenses are formed with estar + sintiendo (present participle). Here is an example: ¿Qué estás sintiendo?

Take Note: Sentir has an E to I stem change when forming the present participle in Spanish. Like ‘sentir’, there are other verbs whose gerunds have a stem change. You can check the list here. 

Sentir Subjunctive Conjugations

The subjunctive mood in Spanish communicates wishes, requests, suggestions, expectations, doubts, or hypothetical situations. Below are sentir conjugation charts for the most common subjunctive tenses. Notice that these tenses also have some stem changes. 

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive conjugations of sentir have two different stem changes. The first one is an E to IE change which applies to all pronouns except ‘vosotros’ and ‘nosotros’. For these pronouns, you’ll use an E to I stem change. 

Sentir subjunctive conjugations allow you to express expectations, wishes, suggestions, or requests about the way people feel. For instance: No quiero que sientan dolor. 

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber in the present subjunctive + sentido is the formula we use to build the present perfect subjunctive of ‘sentir’. We use these subjunctive conjugations to wonder or wish that a person has felt something or a certain way. For example: Ojalá no hayas sentido nada. 

Imperfect subjunctive

Sentir’s imperfect subjunctive conjugations have an E to I stem change. In other words, you’ll use the stem sintie to form these conjugations. The imperfect forms of ‘sentir’ communicate past suggestions, requests, wishes someone had about the way someone felt. 

For instance: No creí que sintieras tanto frío. 

The imperfect subjunctive has two conjugation models depending on the type of Spanish you use:

Latin American Spanish version

Note: Vosotros is not used in Latin American Spanish. As a result, the conjugation for this pronoun hasn’t been included in the conjugation table above. 

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

Conjugate sentir to the past perfect subjunctive to communicate how or what someone would have felt if a past circumstance was met. These conjugations can also convey regret for something you had or hadn’t felt. 

For example: Si no hubieras estado dormido, es probable que hubieras sentido el temblor. 

Sentir Imperative Conjugations

The Spanish imperative mood allows you to give orders to people. 

Affirmative commands

To form the affirmative commands of sentir, use the stem sient for all subjects but ‘vosotros’. Use these imperative forms to command people to feel something. For instance: Mira, ven y siente esto. 

Negative commands

Similar to the present subjunctive conjugations, the negative imperative of sentir has two stem changes. The first one, an E to IE stem change, is applied to ‘tú’, ‘usted’, and ‘ustedes’. The second one is an E to I change, and it’s only applied to ‘vosotros’. 

Use the negative imperative of ‘sentir’ to command people not to feel a certain way. No te sientas mal, todos cometemos errores.

Meanings of Sentir & Examples

Since you already know how to conjugate sentir in Spanish, here are some common applications and examples of this verb. 

1. Express condolences, sorrow or regrets 

[Sentir conjugated] + (adv) + [complement]

Siento mucho lo que te dije. 
I am very sorry for what I said. 

Sentimos mucho lo que te pasó. 
We feel sorry about what happened to you. 

2. Describe how people or things feel

(Reflexive pronoun) + [sentir conjugated] + [complement]

¿Se sienten mal?
Do you guys feel bad? 

Claudia dijo que sentía un poco de dolor. 
Claudia said that she felt a little bit of pain. 

Take Note: Use Spanish reflexive pronouns to describe how a person is feeling. If you’re talking about how something you’re touching feels, you can use direct object pronouns to replace that thing. 

Download Sentir Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

While sentir is not an irregular verb, it can be challenging to conjugate with its array of stem changes. So, I’ve created a downloadable PDF containing of the sentir conjugation charts, as well as the stem changes overview rules you can see at a glance as well as its definition and uses with examples.

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Sentir Conjugation

Now that you know how to conjugate sentir in Spanish, you can take this sentir conjugation practice quiz to drill your knowledge of the different stem changes in the various tenses for this verb.

Take Quiz