anfühlen

Anfühlen is a German verb that means to feel by touch or to have a tactile quality. It describes how something feels when it is touched and can also be used more generally to convey the impression something gives through touch. The noun form das Anfühlen refers to the act or the impression of feeling by touch, or to the texture of an object.

In everyday usage, the reflexive construction sich anfühlen is common. Present tense: Es fühlt sich gut an. Der Stoff fühlt sich rau an. For perfect tenses, the verb is used with haben: Es hat sich gut angefühlt. The prefix an- is part of the verb and the final position of an is typical in the sentence structure.

Usage notes and nuances: anfühlen covers physical textures such as glatt, rau, weich, or kühl, but it can also express intangible impressions, as in Es fühlt sich komisch an or Es fühlt sich falsch an. The expression is primarily about sensory and perceptual states rather than explicit actions of touching. In some contexts a transitive sense exists in literary or regional speech, but the standard and most common form remains sich anfühlen.

Related forms and related verbs: das Anfühlen (noun), fühlen as a broader verb meaning to feel in a physical or emotional sense, and synonyms such as tasten or anfassen in contexts emphasizing the act of touching rather than the impression it creates.

See also: fühlen, tasten, anfassen.