Fluentide
HSK 4

感觉

feeling; to feel; sense

verbneutral1 episode
感
gǎn3rd tone
觉
jué2nd tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
gǎnjué
Part of speech
verb
Level
HSK 4
Strokes
22
Register
neutral
Measure word
种 / 个
In episodes
1

Stroke order for 感觉

感觉 is written with 22 strokes (感: 13, 觉: 9). The animation replays automatically.

What does 感觉 mean?

感觉 (gǎnjué) works as both a verb (to feel, to sense) and a noun (a feeling, sensation, impression).

As a verb it covers physical sensation (感觉冷 'feel cold') and mental impression (我感觉他不高兴 'I feel he's unhappy'). As a noun it names the resulting feeling: 一种奇怪的感觉 'a strange feeling.' Two things surprise English speakers. First, spoken Mandarin uses 我感觉… as a soft way to say 'I think / it seems to me,' much like a hedged opinion.

Second, 感觉 is broader than English 'feel': it spans the five senses, gut impressions, and vibe, but not emotions toward a person — that's 感情. Register is neutral and it is extremely high-frequency in conversation. Compare 觉得 (juéde), which is closer to 'to think/consider' and is used for opinions more than raw sensation.

Character by character

感gǎnto feel; sense
+
觉juéto sense; perceive; be aware
=
感觉

Memory hook: 感 (feel) + 觉 (perceive) — the doubled 'feel/perceive' gives you the full sense of sensation.

Hear 感觉 in real episodes

感觉 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.

你一点也感觉不到。

You can't feel it at all.

Francis Halzen Wins the Physics Nobel for Turning a Cubic Kilometer of Antarctic Ice Into a Telescope for Ghost Particles

Difficulty
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Example sentences

我感觉今天会下雨。

Wǒ gǎnjué jīntiān huì xià yǔ.

I feel like it's going to rain today.

spoken

这家餐厅的感觉很温馨。

Zhè jiā cāntīng de gǎnjué hěn wēnxīn.

This restaurant has a very cozy feel.

neutral

睡了一觉,感觉好多了。

Shuì le yí jiào, gǎnjué hǎo duō le.

After a nap, I feel much better.

spoken

他做决定常常凭感觉。

Tā zuò juédìng chángcháng píng gǎnjué.

He often makes decisions by gut feeling.

neutral

Common phrases with 感觉

感觉不错gǎnjué búcuòfeels good / not bad
一种感觉yì zhǒng gǎnjuéa kind of feeling
凭感觉píng gǎnjuéto go by feel / intuition
没有感觉méiyǒu gǎnjuéto feel nothing / no chemistry

Synonyms

觉得juéde

觉得 leans toward 'to think / consider' and takes an opinion (我觉得贵 'I think it's expensive'). 感觉 leans toward raw sensation or vibe. For pure opinions, 觉得 is more natural; for a gut sense, 感觉.

感受gǎnshòu

感受 is a more reflective, experiential feeling — how something felt after you lived through it (谈谈你的感受 'share your experience/feelings'). 感觉 is more immediate and everyday.

Don't confuse 感觉 with

感情gǎnqíng

感情 is emotion or affection between people (a relationship's feelings). 感觉 is sensation or impression. You have 感情 for a person, but 感觉 about a situation.

感动gǎndòng

感动 means to be emotionally touched. 感觉 is general sensing. Being touched by a story is 感动, not 感觉.

Frequently asked questions

Related words from the same episodes

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