Sentir is an irregular -ir verb in Spanish — the forms that break the pattern are explained in the grammar notes below.
Practice sentir free →Sentir means 'to feel' and, in lo siento, 'to be sorry'. It is a stem-changing verb: e becomes ie in the present (siento, sientes) and e becomes i in the third-person preterite (sintió, sintieron). The reflexive sentirse describes how you feel (me siento bien), essential for health and wellbeing topics. Plain sentir can take a noun (siento frío). Because describing feelings and apologising both come up regularly, sentir is high-value.
Quick facts
Sentir (to feel) is an irregular -ir verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
Sentirse: me siento cansado (I feel tired).
Lo siento (I'm sorry); siento molestarte.
Siento frío (I feel cold).
e→ie in present, e→i in 3rd-person preterite (sintió).
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
Stem-changing (e→ie) in all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
A different stem change applies here (e→i, not e→ie), but only in the él and ellos forms.
The gerund of sentir is irregular: sintiendo (e→i stem change).
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice sentir now →Three questions, no account needed. Type the form, then press Enter or tap Check.
yo: siento, tú: sientes, él: siente, nosotros: sentimos, vosotros: sentís, ellos: sienten
Sentir is irregular. The tenses with irregular forms are: Presente, Pretérito Indefinido, Presente Progresivo.
The past participle is sentido (he sentido) and the gerund is sintiendo (estoy sintiendo).
Verbs that are easy to confuse with sentir or that behave like it.
Sentir is on the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas GCSE Spanish vocabulary lists. Compare the exam boards.
Written by Daniel Holmes for GCSE & A-Level Spanish students.