When do we use sentir vs sentirse?

Question

Cuando uso "me siento" en lugar de "siento"? Me siento confudido! o quizas...Siento confundido?

Answer 1

I feel confused, sick, hot, cold, sad, happy... = Me siento confundido, enfermo, caliente, frío, triste, alegre

I feel confusion, heat, cold, sadness, happiness, lots of things, ...= Siento confusión, calor, frío, tristeza, alegría, muchas cosas...

• Possibly an easy way to explain: Me siento + adjective / Siento + noun - JulianChivi Jul 31, 2011

Answer 2

Me siento... -> how you feel (adjective or adverb)

Siento... -> what you feel (noun)

• Actually, now that I see Lazarus has posted, you can always use his post as the most authoritative opinion!! - territurtle Jul 31, 2011

Answer 3

Now that I see Lazarus has posted above, please consider his opinion as both the easiest to understand and definitely the most authoritative

Me siento confudido!

Is correct, because you are using the word "reflexively," i.e., to reflect back on the subject of the sentence (yourself).

Lo siento.

Means "I am sorry" [or "I apologize."]. You are feeling sorry, but not for yourself! You are sorry about some offense you committed, hence the "Lo" represents what you are sorry about [or the offense you committed].

If you wrote simply "Me siento," you would be feeling the offense for yourself, i.e., you would be the one who felt offended!

Actually, there are two verbs in Spanish for "feel." The one I wrote about above is the reflexive one and is "sentirse." You can always tell when a verb is reflexive if it has an SE attached to the end!

The other verb, sentir can be used for when you are talking about what you sense external to yourself. For example: say you are looking at a starving dog and sympathize with him, you might say; "Siento que hambre." [I feel that hunger.].

Here's where you can read about the verb "sentir" in SpanishDict's awesome dictionary.

Answer 4

Is this correct??

I feel the sandness all over the place, I really feel sad about that.

Siento la tristeza por todo el lugar, de verdad me sineto triste sobre ése.

• Looks right to me! Let's see what a native speaker says ... - territurtle Jul 31, 2011