How To Talk About Feelings In Spanish

• Learn core emotion vocab with gendered forms: feliz ("happy"), triste ("sad"), enojado/enojada ("angry"), nervioso/nerviosa ("nervous"), and others.

• Use estar and sentirse plus modifiers to say Estoy cansado/cansada ("I’m tired"), Estoy feliz ("I’m happy"), Me siento mejor ("I feel better"), using muy ("very") or un poco ("a little").

• Ask and reply smoothly with ¿Cómo te sientes? ("How do you feel?") and ¿Qué tal estás? ("How are you doing?"), explaining with porque ("because"): Estoy preocupado/preocupada porque tengo un examen ("I’m worried because I have an exam").

Talking about your emotions in any language can be tough. Having the right vocabulary is a good first step, though. Being able to communicate how you’re feeling is a great way to connect with others, which can make your language-learning experience a lot less lonely when you’re first starting out. We collected some basic vocabulary for emotions and feelings in Spanish, which will help you get started. There are also some phrases thrown in to show you how the vocab fits into a sentence.

Do note that the adjectives below will need to be adjusted depending on the gender of the noun they’re describing.

Spanish Emotion Words

the emotion — la emoción [la eh-mo-SYON]

the mood — el humor [el oo-MOR]

happy — feliz [feh-LEES]

sad — triste [TREES-teh]

excited — emocionado [eh-mo-see-oh-NAH-doh]

the joy — la alegría [la ah-leh-GREE-ah]

the love — el amor [el ah-MOR]

the hate — el odio [el OH-dyoh]

angry — enfadado [en-fah-DAH-doh]

to feel — sentirse [sen-TEER-seh]

the feeling — el sentimiento [el sen-tee-MYEN-toh]

the hope — la esperanza [la es-peh-RAN-sah]

depressed — deprimido [deh-pree-MEE-doh]

the sympathy — la compasión [la kom-pah-SYON]

lonely — solo [SOH-loh]

satisfied — satisfecho [sah-tees-FEH-choh]

proud — orgulloso [or-goo-YOH-soh]

disappointed — decepcionado [deh-sehp-syoh-NAH-doh]

upset — indignado [in-deen-GNAH-doh]

to get over — olvidar algo [ol-vee-DAR AHL-goh]

Spanish Emotion Phrases

I like you. — Me gustas. [meh GOOS-tahs]

I have a strange feeling. — Tengo una sensación rara. [TEN-goh OO-nah sen-sah-THYON RAH-rah]

I am in a good mood today. — Hoy estoy de buen humor. [oy es-TOY deh bwen oo-MOR]

It is exasperating! — Es desesperante. [es deh-seh-speh-RAHN-teh]

I’m afraid. — Tengo miedo. [TEN-goh MYEH-doh]

He has the blues today. — Hoy está melancólico. [oy es-TAH meh-lahn-KOH-lee-koh]

I love you. — Te quiero. [teh KYEH-roh]

Why are you sad? — ¿Por qué estás triste? [por KEH es-TAHS TREES-teh]

Are you happy with her? — ¿Eres feliz con ella? [EH-res feh-LEES kon EH-yah]

I am so unhappy. — Soy tan infeliz. [soy tan in-feh-LEES]

Spanish Sensation Words

the sensation — la sensación [la sen-sah-SYON]

the pleasure — el placer [el plah-SEHR]

the hunger — el hambre [el AHM-breh]

the thirst — la sed [la SEHD]

the pain — el dolor [el doh-LOR]

the surprise — la sorpresa [la sor-PRAY-sah]

nervous — nervioso [ner-VYOH-soh]

tired — cansado [kahn-SA-doh]

the fear — el miedo [el MYEH-doh]

to get bored — aburrirse [ah-boo-REER-seh]