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Zij voelt zich slecht.

Zij voelt zich slecht.
She feels bad.
From Lesson 46:Reflexive verbs and pronouns (zich, me, je)·Dutch

Breakdown of Zij voelt zich slecht.

zij
she
slecht
bad
zich
oneself
zich voelen
to feel

Questions & Answers about Zij voelt zich slecht.

Why is zich in this sentence? In English we just say "She feels bad."
In Dutch, the verb for expressing how you feel is reflexive: zich voelen (literally "to feel oneself"). Because English doesn't use "herself" in this phrase, it is easy to forget, but in Dutch you must include zich.
What happens if I leave out zich and just say Zij voelt slecht?
It sounds incomplete and confusing to a Dutch speaker. Without a reflexive pronoun, voelen means physically touching or sensing an object. To talk about your own internal health or emotional state, you always need the reflexive pronoun.
Why use zich instead of haar (her)?
Zich is a special pronoun that always reflects back to the third-person subject (meaning "herself", "himself", or "themselves"). If you used haar and said Zij voelt haar slecht, it would mean she is physically touching another woman who happens to be bad!
Does zich slecht voelen mean she is in a bad mood, or physically sick?
It usually means she feels physically unwell or sick. If you want to say someone is grumpy or in a bad mood, you would typically use other phrases, like saying she has a slecht humeur (bad mood).

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