Ojos Que No Ven, Corazón Que No Siente
If you are curious to know what this phrase means, scroll to the bottom of this page to see what this means!
When we talk about the verb Sentir, we can have different definitions. Here are the most common ones:
Sentir Main Uses
- To feel something, either pain or pleasure, in the body: Fui al doctor porque me desperté sintiendo un fuerte dolor en la rodilla. (I went to the doctor because I woke up feeling a terrible pain in the knee).
- To express emotions usually caused by external sources: Cuando vio a Pennywise frente a él, sintió el verdadero terror. (When he saw Pennywise facing him, he felt the real terror).
- To talk about a momentarily strange sensation: Me sentí tan orgulloso de mi equipo por ganar la copa. (I felt so proud about my team for winning the cup).
- To mention sorrow about a difficult situation or giving condolences: El vecindario se sintió muy triste por la pérdida de tan buen jefe de policía. (The community felt so sorry about losing such a great chief of police).
- To talk about things from the heart: Ella dijo “Nunca me había sentido así, estoy enamorada”. (She said “I had never felt like this before, I am in love).
Sentir, another member of the Irregular Family
Once again we meet an irregular verb, but do not worry, with practice you can master the Spanish tenses.
“The princess could not sleep feeling the pea even under 50 mattresses” – Verbals
Have you ever heard of “verbals”? They are words that used to be verbs, but have since decided to stop being verbs. In their new state of existence, they become nouns, adjectives or adverbs instead – a type of verb sentir.
They may be derived from a verb, but behave like other parts of speech. Examples of verbals include participles, gerunds, and infinitives. Although these words do not act as verbs in a sentence anymore, they still help to express the same ideas and thoughts as if they were verbs.
Let’s move on to the examples:
| Verbal | Common Use | Example | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | Sentir (to feel / feeling) | Non conjugated/Noun | No sentir nada es imposible | Not to feel anything is impossible |
| Gerund | Sintiendo (feeling) | Adverb | Si sigue sintiéndose mal lo llevaré al doctor | If he keeps on feeling bad I will take him to the doctor |
| Participle | Sentido (felt) | Adjective | El terremoto fue sentido en toda la costa este | The earthquake was felt through all the west coast |
Conjugate Sentir
Sentir Conjugation: Indicative Mood
The most common focus in Spanish is the indicative mood. This mood is used to express facts, opinions or ask questions as if they are actually happening/have happened or have been answered and known. To form the indicative mood, Spanish has an auxiliary verb Haber (to have) that needs to be conjugated by the subject of the action. This verb helps us express facts related to past and present, and also allows us to make hypotheses about future events.
Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood
| Subject | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (feel) | (felt) | (felt) | (would feel) | (will feel) | |
| yo | siento | sentí | sentía | sentiría | sentiré |
| tú | sientes | sentiste | sentías | sentirías | sentirás |
| él/ella/usted | siente | sintió | sentía | sentiría | sentirá |
| nosotros | sentimos | sentimos | sentíamos | sentiríamos | sentiremos |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | sienten | sintieron | sentían | sentirían | sentirán |
Some examples:
- Cuando se besaron, sintieron que el mundo alrededor de ellos explotaba. When they kissed, they both felt the world around them exploding.
- Si lo hubieses conocido, sentirías la pena de verlo partir. If you had known him, you would feel the pain of seeing him go.
Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood
| Subject | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Conditional | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (have/has felt) | (had felt) | (had felt) | (would have felt) | (will have felt) | |
| yo | he sentido | hube sentido | había sentido | habría sentido | habré sentido |
| tú | has sentido | hubiste sentido | habías sentido | habrías sentido | habrás sentido |
| él/ella/usted | ha sentido | hubo sentido | había sentido | habría sentido | habrá sentido |
| nosotros | hemos sentido | hubimos sentido | habíamos sentido | habrían sentido | habremos sentido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | han sentido | hubieran sentido | habían sentido | habrían sentido | habrán sentido |
Sentir Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood is used to talk about situations that are unlikely to happen or are hypothetical (“If I were you…”). Verb tenses in the subjunctive mood are different from other verb tenses and generally take on a simple form. Verbs normally take the form of “were/had/would etc …” as opposed to “am/are/is etc…” The subjunctive mood can also be used with compound verbs such as ‘could have, would have, should have’ and so on.
Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present | Imperfect | Imperfect 2 | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | sienta | sintiera | sintiese | sintiere |
| tú | sientas | sintieras | sintieses | sintieres |
| él/ella/usted | sientan | sintiera | sintiese | sintiere |
| nosotros | sintamos | sintiéramos | sintiésemos | sintiéremos |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | sientan | sintieran | sintiesen | sintieren |
More examples:
- Si sintieres dolor, ven a verme una vez más. If you felt pain, come to see me again.
- Su bondad hizo que sintamos vergüenza. Her kindness made us feel ashamed.
Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood
| Subject | Present | Imperfect | Imperfect 2 | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | haya sentido | hubiera sentido | hubiese sentido | hubiere sentido |
| tú | hayas sentido | hubieras sentido | hubieses sentido | hubieres sentido |
| él/ella/usted | haya sentido | hubiera sentido | hubiese sentido | hubiere sentido |
| nosotros | hayamos sentido | hubiéramos sentido | hubiésemos sentido | hubiéremos sentido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hayan sentido | hubieran sentido | hubiesen sentido | hubieren sentido |
Sentir Conjugation: Imperative Mood
In the world of language, there is one verb tense that stands out from the crowd – the Imperative mood. It is a relatively straightforward grammar rule and mostly used to give commands to someone – it could be either polite or strong instructions/requests. It can be used for all kinds of things, from ordering your dinner at a restaurant to telling your dog to sit down. So let us have a look at some of the important uses of this particular verb tense.
Imperative Mood’s Conjugations
| Subject | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| (feel / let's feel) | (don't feel / let's not feel) | |
| tú | siente | no sientas |
| nosotros | sintamos | no sintamos |
| ustedes | sientan | no sientan |
Examples:
- No sientan que este contrato acabará con su empresa a largo plazo. Do not feel that this contract will kill your company in the long term.
- El entrenador dijo “sientan el dolor ahora, pero no dejen de correr hasta ganar”. The coach said, “feel the pain now but do not stop running until you win”.
Sentir – Quiz/Worksheet
Well, today I bring you a challenge to practice the verb Sentir. Fill in the correct conjugation in the spaces below using words from the box, but OMG! The answers are scrambled due to a tornado! Good news is, they are in the same order as the sentences. Have fun unscrambling them:
- Hoy me __________ muy feliz y lleno de energía. (Today I feel very happy and energetic)
- Washington comprendió el ___________ del pueblo y decidió encabezar la lucha por la independencia. (Washington understood the feeling of the people and decided to lead the fight for independence)
- Nos ____________ aliviados tras oir el veredicto de “inocente”. (We felt relieved after hearing the “not guilty” verdict)
- Nunca _______________ tanta adrenalina como en esa montaña rusa. (I had never felt such amount of adrenaline as in that roller coaster)
- ¿Será posible que Charles Manson ___________ remordimientos por sus actos? (Would it be possible that Charles Manson felt any remorse for his deeds?)
- Después de tomar tus pastillas te ____________ mejor. (After taking your pills you will feel better)
- Yo en su lugar _________________ vergüenza. (Me in his place, I would feel shame)
- Su bondad hizo que yo ____________ amor por ella de inmediato (Her kindness made me immediately feel love for her)
- Todos en California ___________ la fuerza del terremoto (everybody in California felt the strength of the earthquake)
- El conde nunca ______________ una pasión tal por otra mujer. (the count had never felt such passion for a woman)
Answers
Checking your answers is cool, but don’t stress out if you get a few wrong- it happens! Just keep practicing every day!
- siento
- sentir
- sentimos
- había sentido
- sintió
- sentirás
- sentiría
- sintiese
- sintieron
- había sentido
Fun fact
The title of this class is quite similar to the American saying “out of sight, out of mind” but in a broader concept. The idea is that you also feel through the heart, but you need to have the person or thing present, in front of you, like a relative, a friend, a love. If you do not see that thing or person frequently, you tend to forget even about feelings.
It also refers to a certain pain like a scar in your body (which you see only once in a while) or in the soul (which you try not to remember). There is a story about this saying dating back to colonial times when crossing the oceans took months and not days like today, so the engaged girls sometimes were told to forget about the boy who left for Europe and either have fun or find another suitor.
About the Author:
Specializations: Spanish Tutors on Zoom
Bio: I have been an English teacher for more than 27 years to all kind of people and to all ages; kids from 3 years-old, teens, and adults, from beginners to advanced, and various topics for specific purposes such as Tourism or Finance. I have also had the opportunity to be a Teacher trainer, since I hold a Teacher’s Diploma and a TKT. Later on I achieved my TESOL, so I have been preparing other candidates for those diplomas for over 10 years. I have been helping students to accomplish Cambridge Exams such as YLEs, KET (KEY) and PET preparation, I have also done the TOEFL non dictated (I have done it three times as part of job applications) and all times I have gone over 600 points. I began to work as an online tutor about 6 years ago, since I was asked to give a follow up to a couple of former students who moved to other cities and then I realized that I can perform this as part of my daily teaching. As a native speaker I had rarely been asked to teach my own language, but I began to do it informally about 2 years ago. So, I took an ELE course to benefit my future students with a better and more adequate structure in the program. I am a 45 years old teacher who had always wanted to be A TEACHER. I had a long line of relatives who were dedicated to such profession. Teaching English had given me the opportunity to grow as a person, understand people better, and be supportive as well. I do love learning myself so preparation has always been a part of my life, learning new techniques and methodologies to improve my classes.
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