Expressing feelings and reactions in French

Level B1

Expressing feelings and reactions in French

Learn to describe mixed feelings, explain a change of mood and connect disappointment to an expectation. Practise responding to another person's worries and good news. In the polite dialogue, vous addresses someone respectfully; the friendly dialogue uses tu, while informal on means “we.” Many of the other examples work in either setting, so a formal label does not mean that every expression is restricted to formal speech.

Words for feelings and expectations

Balancing enthusiasm and worry with mais

Je me sens sentiment à l’idée de événement ou action, mais réaction contrastée.

Describing earlier worry and present relief

Au début, sentiment initial, mais maintenant, sentiment actuel et sa cause.

Explaining what fell short of your expectations

J’ai été déçu par expérience parce que je m’attendais à résultat espéré.

Choosing complements, verb forms and adjective endings

Unlike English “feel,” se sentir requires a reflexive pronoun, as in je me sens, while s’inquiéter means “worry”; enthousiaste and plein d’enthousiasme express positive anticipation without the possible ambiguity of excité, which can suggest agitation or sexual excitement. English “about” changes with the expression: à l’idée de introduces an anticipated event or action, inquiet de and s’inquiéter de introduce a worrying action here, and déçu par identifies what disappointed you.

When the person experiencing the feeling also performs the action, these examples use an infinitive, while de savoir que introduces a fact that brings relief: “Au début, je m’inquiétais, mais maintenant, je suis soulagé de savoir que tout le monde est en sécurité.” S’attendre à means “expect” and takes a noun or infinitive, as in à plus de pratique or à pratiquer davantage; unlike English, it cannot be followed directly by the expected thing without à.

Je m’inquiétais and je m’attendais describe an ongoing past feeling or expectation, whereas j’ai été déçu presents the disappointment as a past reaction, and maintenant que introduces the situation that explains the present feeling. Feeling adjectives agree with the person described—such as inquiet/inquiète, déçu/déçue and soulagé/soulagée—and when on means “we,” the verb stays singular but an adjective can be plural, as in “On a été déçus par le cours ; on s’attendait à plus de pratique.”

Showing sympathy and acknowledging relief with vous

Responding to a friend's disappointment and good news

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