feel felt felt

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive or intransitive

   to experience an emotion or a physical feeling, or to notice something by touch

   Grammar: Can be used with or without an object: I feel tired. / I feel the cold.

   Patterns

   • feel + adjective
   • feel + noun
   • feel like + noun/-ing
   • feel that + clause

   I feel happy when I hear that song.

   She felt sad after the movie.

   Have you felt the softness of this blanket?

2. 2verbtransitive or intransitive

   to have an opinion or belief about something, often based on emotion or intuition

   Grammar: Often followed by 'that' or used in the pattern 'feel something is...'

   Patterns

   • feel (that) + clause
   • feel something to be + adjective

   I feel that this is the right decision.

   She felt the plan was too risky.

   Many people feel the same way about it.

Word forms

Common combinations

feel good

I feel good after a long walk.

feel like

I feel like eating pizza tonight.

feel free

Feel free to ask questions.

feel the need

She felt the need to explain.

Synonyms and how they differ

sense

Often suggests a physical or intuitive awareness rather than an emotion; 'I sensed danger' is more about perception than feeling.

experience

More formal and focused on events or situations; 'experience joy' is stronger and less everyday than 'feel joy'.

Word family

feeling noun

An emotion or physical sensation.

feelingly adverb

In a way that shows deep emotion.

Commonly confused: feel felt felt or fell?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “feel felt felt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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