احساس کردن ehsâs kardan: to Feel | Farsi Grammar

احساس کردن means “feel, sense, or perceive.” It is a compound verb: احساس supplies the perceptual meaning, while کردن carries tense, person, negation, and mood. The experiencer is the grammatical subject even though sensing is not necessarily deliberate: سرما را احساس کردم “I felt the cold.”

English “feel” covers several structures that Persian keeps apart. احساس کردن takes a sensation, emotion, or perceived situation; an adjective normally uses the copula instead: خسته‌ام “I feel/am tired.” Persian also has حس کردن (neutral spoken/informal), به نظر رسیدن for an impression, and bodily or emotional expressions with حال and دل. Choosing among them matters more than translating “feel” word for word.

Principal parts of the compound

Form	Persian	Romanization	Use
infinitive	احساس کردن	ehsâs kardan	to feel, sense
past base	احساس کرد	ehsâs kard	احساس کردم
present base	احساس کن	ehsâs kon	احساس می‌کنم
past participle	احساس کرده	ehsâs karde	احساس کرده‌ای
imperative	احساس کن / احساس کنید	ehsâs kon / ehsâs konid	feel, notice
negative imperative	احساس نکن / احساس نکنید	ehsâs nakon / ehsâs nakonid	do not feel

The two written words form one predicate but remain separated by an ordinary space. Standard compound subjunctives and commands normally have no affirmative بـ: احساس کنم، احساس کن. Negation goes on the light verb: احساس نمی‌کنم، احساس نکردم، احساس نکنم.

Core paradigm

Person	Present indicative	Simple past	Present perfect	Present subjunctive
I	احساس می‌کنم	احساس کردم	احساس کرده‌ام	احساس کنم
you (sg.)	احساس می‌کنی	احساس کردی	احساس کرده‌ای	احساس کنی
he/she/it	احساس می‌کند	احساس کرد	احساس کرده است	احساس کند
we	احساس می‌کنیم	احساس کردیم	احساس کرده‌ایم	احساس کنیم
you (pl./polite)	احساس می‌کنید	احساس کردید	احساس کرده‌اید	احساس کنید
they	احساس می‌کنند	احساس کردند	احساس کرده‌اند	احساس کنند

هنوز درد مبهمی در شانه‌ام احساس می‌کنم.

hanuz dard-e mobhami dar shâne-am ehsâs mi-konam.

I still feel a vague pain in my shoulder. (neutral standard)

وقتی وارد اتاق شدم، بی‌درنگ سنگینی فضا را احساس کردم.

vaqti vâred-e otâq shodam, bi-derang sangini-ye fazâ râ ehsâs kardam.

When I entered the room, I immediately sensed the heaviness in the atmosphere. (neutral standard)

ممکن است بعد از تزریق کمی سوزش احساس کنید.

momken ast ba'd az tazriq kami suzesh ehsâs konid.

You may feel a slight burning sensation after the injection. (formal clinical instruction)

Sensations and emotions as objects

A definite or contrastive sensation can be a را-marked direct object: سرمای کف اتاق را احساس کردم. A nonspecific sensation often appears without را: سرما احساس کردم، خستگی احساس می‌کنم. This is the ordinary Persian specificity contrast, not a change in the verb’s valency.

بعد از چند ساعت پیاده‌روی، خستگی شدیدی احساس کردیم.

ba'd az chand sâ'at piyâde-ravi, khastegi-ye shadidi ehsâs kardim.

After several hours of walking, we felt very tired. (neutral standard; nonspecific sensation)

با شنیدن نتیجه، احساس آرامش کردم.

bâ shenidan-e natije, ehsâs-e ârâmesh kardam.

On hearing the result, I felt relieved. (neutral standard)

The second example can be parsed as “experienced a feeling of relief”: احساس retains more noun-like substance than in a physical-perception example. That boundary is genuinely gradual. A useful test is whether the following expression names what was perceived (فشار را احساس کردن) or classifies an emotion (احساس آرامش کردن). Both belong to the same conventional predicate family.

An accessible object may appear as an internal clitic on احساس. The clitic has scope over the entire compound:

تغییر خیلی ظریف بود، اما احساسش کردم.

taghyir kheyli zarif bud, ammâ ehsâs-ash kardam.

The change was very subtle, but I felt it. (neutral spoken standard)

For this placement pattern, see Clitics inside Light Verb Constructions.

A finite clause: an impression or inference

احساس می‌کنم که + clause presents a perceived situation or an intuition. In careful prose, که makes the boundary explicit. Conversation often omits it. When the speaker presents the embedded proposition as their actual impression, the embedded verb is normally indicative; احساس می‌کنم که چیزی عوض شده است does not assert certainty, but it still reports the content of the impression.

احساس می‌کنم که این تصمیم کمی عجولانه بوده است.

ehsâs mi-konam ke in tasmim kami ajulâne bude ast.

I feel that this decision has been somewhat rushed. (neutral careful standard)

او احساس کرد کسی پشت سرش ایستاده بود.

u ehsâs kard kasi posht-e sar-ash istâde bud.

She sensed that someone was standing behind her. (neutral standard; که omitted)

This use overlaps with فکر کردن “think” and به نظر رسیدن “seem,” but the source differs. احساس کردن foregrounds an intuition or perception; فکر کردن presents a belief or conclusion; به نظر رسیدن frames an appearance or assessment. The distinction is semantic, not a different tense rule.

💡

After احساس می‌کنم که, choose the embedded mood by what you mean, not by the mere presence of که. A reported impression normally has an indicative clause; uncertainty is contributed by احساس می‌کنم, not automatically by subjunctive morphology.

English “feel” is often not احساس کردن

With an adjective, ordinary Persian uses the copula: خسته‌ام، خوشحالم، مضطربم. A more explicit experiential paraphrase can use احساس خستگی می‌کنم or احساس نگرانی می‌کنم, but it is heavier. For general condition, حالم خوب نیست “I don’t feel well” is more idiomatic than a literal compound with “feel.”

امروز کمی بی‌حوصله‌ام؛ بهتر است جلسه را کوتاه کنیم.

emruz kami bi-howsele-am; behtar ast jalse râ kutâh konim.

I feel a little listless today; we had better keep the meeting short. (neutral standard; copular adjective)

به نظرم می‌رسد این عدد درست نیست.

be nazar-am mi-resad in adad dorost nist.

It seems to me that this number is not correct. (neutral standard; assessment)

حس کردن is shorter and very common in conversation, while احساس کردن is fully current in speech and writing and often sounds more deliberate or explicit. It is misleading to label احساس کردن as merely formal.

حس می‌کنم امروز حالش بهتره.

hes mi-konam emruz hâl-ash behtare.

I feel like he or she is doing better today. (informal, regional: Tehran)

Imperatives and attention

Because an experiencer cannot always choose a feeling, a bare command such as احساس کن! is less freely usable than نگاه کن! “look!” It becomes natural when directing attention to a sensation, especially in coaching, therapy, or descriptive instruction.

چند لحظه سکوت کن و گرمای آفتاب را روی صورتت احساس کن.

chand lahze sokut kon va garmâ-ye âftâb râ ru-ye surat-at ehsâs kon.

Be quiet for a few moments and feel the warmth of the sun on your face. (neutral guided instruction)

💡

Do not assume every grammatical imperative is equally useful. احساس کن is structurally regular, but pragmatically it normally directs attention to a perceptible sensation rather than ordering an involuntary emotion.

Tehran conversational forms

The nonverbal element remains احساس, while کردن takes conversational endings: احساس می‌کنه، احساس می‌کنین، احساس می‌کنن (informal, regional: Tehran). First singular احساس می‌کنم is spelled the same in standard and colloquial writing. In relaxed speech, حس کردن is often chosen instead of shortening the word احساس itself.

اگر هیچ فرقی احساس نمی‌کنی، تنظیمات قبلی را برگردان.

agar hich farqi ehsâs nemi-koni, tanzimât-e qabli râ bar-gardân.

If you cannot feel any difference, restore the previous settings. (neutral spoken standard)

Common Mistakes

1. Copying English “feel + adjective”

❌ من خسته احساس می‌کنم.

Incorrect — an ordinary adjective takes the copula, not a literal translation of English ‘feel.’

✅ امروز بعد از کار خیلی خسته‌ام.

emruz ba'd az kâr kheyli khaste-am.

I feel very tired after work today.

2. Putting the tense prefix on احساس

❌ فشار زیادی می‌احساس کنم.

Incorrect — tense and agreement belong on the light verb کردن.

✅ این روزها فشار زیادی احساس می‌کنم.

in ruz-hâ feshâr-e ziyâdi ehsâs mi-konam.

These days I feel a lot of pressure.

3. Omitting را from a definite perceived object

❌ سرمای باد شمال احساس کردم.

Incorrect for the specific cold of the north wind — the definite object takes را.

✅ سرمای باد شمال را کنار پنجره احساس کردم.

sarmâ-ye bâd-e shomâl râ kenâr-e panjare ehsâs kardam.

I felt the cold of the north wind by the window.

4. Joining the two members orthographically

❌ از صبح احساس‌کرده‌ام چیزی درست نیست.

Incorrect standard spacing — احساس and the inflected light verb are separate words.

✅ از صبح احساس کرده‌ام چیزی درست نیست.

az sobh ehsâs karde-am chizi dorost nist.

Since this morning I have felt that something is not right.

Key Takeaways

Inflect only کردن: احساس می‌کنم، احساس کردم، احساس کرده‌ام، احساس کنم.
A sensation may be a bare nonspecific object or a definite را-marked object; an impression can be a finite که clause.
Use a copular adjective for ordinary English “feel + adjective”: خسته‌ام, not a literal calque.
حس کردن is common in conversation; احساس کردن remains neutral and fully current across speech and writing.

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