sentíavssentíanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sentía” and “sentían” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,954
“sentía” frequency rank
#16,216
“sentían” frequency rank
19170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sentía sentían
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de sentir. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de sentir.

Where the eye mixes sentía and sentían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
sentía
7 ch
sentían

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sentía ([sẽn̪ˈt̪ia]) and sentían ([sẽn̪ˈt̪iãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “sentía” sits inside “sentían”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sentía is recorded at frequency rank #2,954, classified as averb, pronounced [sẽn̪ˈt̪ia]. sentían is at rank #16,216, tagged as averb, pronounced [sẽn̪ˈt̪iãn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 19170, this pair ranks #264,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sentía vs sentían

Shared letters: aenstí. Private to "sentía": -. Private to "sentían": -.

"sentía" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "sentían" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sentía" and "sentían" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([sẽn̪ˈt̪ia] versus [sẽn̪ˈt̪iãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sentía" or "sentían"?
"sentía" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,954 in our Spanish list, against #16,216 for "sentían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list