sentí

Sentí is the first-person singular preterite indicative form of the Spanish verb sentir, meaning to feel or to sense. It marks a completed, past experience of a physical sensation or an emotional state.

Conjugation in the pretérito simple is: yo sentí, tú sentiste, él/ella/usted sintió, nosotros sentimos, vosotros sentisteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes sintieron. Note that in the third person singular and plural the stem changes from sent- to sint- (sintió, sintieron). This irregularity is a characteristic feature of sentir in the preterite.

Usage: Sentí can express a direct physical or emotional experience, as in sentí frío, sentí hambre, sentí miedo, or sentí alivio. It can also refer to perceiving a situation or event, as in sentí que algo no estaba bien. The verb is commonly followed by adjectives, nouns, or clauses that describe the sensation or feeling. Its imperfect form, sentía, describes ongoing past feelings, while the subjunctive forms (sienta, sientas, etc.) are used in subordinate clauses.

Etymology and related forms: Sentir comes from the Latin verb sentire, meaning to feel or perceive, and has given rise to related words such as sentimiento (feeling), sensible (sensitive), and sentir as the infinitive. The word shares a common root with other Romance languages that use cognate forms for feel or sense.

In sum, sentí is the direct way to express “I felt” in the Spanish past tense, reflecting both physical sensations and emotional states, with a distinctive stem change in the 3rd-person forms.