Learn Spanish (Spain): Sentí que alguien me miraba. - I felt that someone was looking at me.

Sentí que alguien me miraba.

I felt that someone was looking at me.

Breakdown of Sentí que alguien me miraba.

que

that (relative pronoun, conjunction)

to me / myself (reflexive) / me (direct object)

Questions & Answers about Sentí que alguien me miraba.

Why is miraba in the indicative and not the subjunctive? Doesn't sentir trigger the subjunctive?

Sentir only triggers the subjunctive when it expresses an emotion, like regret or sorrow (meaning "to be sorry"). When sentir is used to express physical perception or noticing a fact, as in this sentence, it acts like a verb of reporting or thinking and takes the indicative.

Why use the preterite sentí for the first verb but the imperfect miraba for the second?

This is a classic past-tense combination. Your sudden realization or feeling was a completed event, so it uses the preterite (sentí). The act of someone looking at you was an ongoing, background action at the exact moment you noticed it, which requires the imperfect (miraba).

Could I say me estaba mirando instead of me miraba?

Yes, me estaba mirando is also perfectly correct and emphasizes the action in progress. However, Spanish speakers frequently use the simple imperfect (miraba) to express "was looking," whereas English speakers tend to expect a continuous structure.