Feelings in Spanish mostly run on one verb: estar. Estoy feliz (I am happy), estoy triste (I am sad), estoy nervioso (I am nervous). A handful break the pattern and use tener instead, like tengo miedo (I am scared, literally I have fear). Vocabcord's corpus grades 114 feelings-themed phrases from A1 to C2, six words a beginner meets in the first weeks up to the fine distinctions a fluent speaker reaches for. Here they are, level by level, with audio.
Feelings run on estar, not ser
Spanish has two verbs for to be, and feelings almost always take estar, the one for states that can change. Estoy feliz is I am happy right now; tomorrow you might be triste instead. Ser is reserved for identity and traits that hold still: es amable (he is kind) describes who someone is. Our guide to ser vs estar covers the full split; the short version for feelings is: if it could change by tomorrow, reach for estar.
There is a second way to say the same thing: sentirse (to feel), used reflexively. Me siento feliz and estoy feliz both mean I feel happy, and Spanish speakers move between them freely. To ask how someone feels, both ¿Cómo estás? and ¿Cómo te sientes? work, though the second leans more toward asking about a specific mood or a rough day.
The six feelings you learn first (A1)
Vocabcord's A1 Spanish set opens with six feelings, the ones that come up before almost anything else: feliz (happy), triste (sad), enfadado (angry), asustado (scared), emocionado (excited), and aburrido (bored). Every one slots straight after estoy: estoy feliz, estoy aburrido. Learn these six before anything below and you can already answer the most basic version of ¿cómo estás?
20 everyday feelings (A2)
The A2 set adds 20 more feelings, moving from broad moods into more specific ones: nervous, worried, jealous, proud, relaxed, stressed. Here are 14 of them from Vocabcord's Spanish track. Tap the play button on any row to hear the audio.
| Spanish | English | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| nervioso | nervous | I feel nervous before exams. |
| preocupado | worried | She looked worried about the news. |
| solo | lonely | He felt lonely in the new city. |
| orgulloso | proud | They are proud of their daughter. |
| celoso | jealous | He was jealous of his brother. |
| confundido | confused | I'm confused by these instructions. |
| sorprendido | surprised | She was surprised by the gift. |
| decepcionado | disappointed | We were disappointed by the film. |
| relajado | relaxed | I feel relaxed on holiday. |
| estresado | stressed | He is stressed about his exams. |
| tranquilo | calm | Stay calm and breathe slowly. |
| sensación | feeling | I had a strange feeling about it. |
| miedo | fear | His fear of dogs is strong. |
| alegría | joy | The children jumped for joy. |
Three of these are nouns rather than adjectives: sensación (feeling), miedo (fear), and alegría (joy). They work differently in a sentence, which is the subject of the next section.
A few feelings use tener, not estar
Spanish treats a handful of feelings as things you have rather than states you are. Fear is the clearest case: tener miedo (literally to have fear) is at least as common as estar asustado, so tengo miedo and estoy asustado both translate to I am scared. The same tener pattern covers other noun-based feelings, like tener celos (to be jealous, literally to have jealousy) alongside the adjective form estar celoso. When a feeling shows up in the corpus as a noun, like miedo or alegría above, tener is usually the verb standing next to it in real sentences, even though estar and sentir also work.
B1 to C2: feelings turn into verbs, then abstractions
Past A2 the feelings theme changes shape. B1 adds 25 entries, and 11 of them are verbs for what feelings do to you or someone else: frustrar (frustrate), animar (encourage), decepcionar (disappoint), molestar (annoy), admirar (admire), confiar (trust), dudar (doubt), arrepentirse (regret). This is where you stop just naming a mood and start describing what causes it: me frustra el tráfico is traffic frustrates me.
B2 turns 15 entries into abstractions you would use in an essay before a conversation: empatía (empathy), resiliencia (resilience), vulnerabilidad (vulnerability), ansiedad (anxiety), resentimiento (resentment). C1 narrows to just 6 precise, literary words: ecuanimidad (equanimity), ambivalencia (ambivalence), camaradería (camaraderie).
Then C2 holds the corpus's biggest single theme jump: 42 entries, and the pattern flips. Several of the English words are themselves foreign loanwords with a plain Spanish equivalent behind them: schadenfreude is regodeo, sangfroid is sangre fría (literally cold blood), ennui is hastío, and angst is angustia existencial. Even at the very top of the ladder, the words describing how people feel keep being the ones that reward learning early: precision about emotion is where advanced fluency actually shows.
How to keep 114 feelings words without a study schedule
A list this size only sticks if you meet each word again before it fades, and scheduling that review is the part most learners skip. Vocabcord removes the scheduling: every time you plug in your phone to charge, one phrase plays out loud, drawn from your level and spaced by how well you know it. The corpus behind this page, and every other level, is broken down on the corpus statistics page; how it was built and graded is on the methodology page. Get Vocabcord on the App Store and start with the six A1 feelings today.
Common questions
How do you say how you feel in Spanish?
Use estar plus an adjective: estoy feliz (I am happy), estoy cansado (I am tired). Or use sentirse (to feel) reflexively: me siento feliz means the same thing. To ask, say ¿Cómo estás? or ¿Cómo te sientes?
Do you use ser or estar for feelings in Spanish?
Estar. Feelings are treated as states that can change, which is exactly what estar is for: estoy triste (I am sad today). Ser is for identity and traits that hold still, like es amable (he is a kind person).
How do you say I'm happy in Spanish?
Estoy feliz or estoy contento. Both are common and interchangeable in most everyday conversation.
How do you say I'm scared in Spanish?
Either estoy asustado (estar plus the adjective) or tengo miedo (tener plus the noun, literally I have fear). Both are correct and equally common; tener miedo is the one you will hear most in casual speech.
How do you say I'm sad in Spanish?
Estoy triste. It is one of the first six feelings words in Vocabcord's A1 Spanish set, alongside happy, angry, scared, excited, and bored.
What is the Spanish word for feelings?
Sentimientos is the general word for feelings, and emociones (emotions) is used close to interchangeably. Vocabcord's corpus files 114 feelings-themed phrases under that heading, from feliz at A1 up to precise, literary words like eufórico (euphoric) at C2.
