Feel Like

Conversational structures with Feel

Feel + adjective/ noun complement

Feel can be used with a personal subject (I, you, John etc.) to mean ‘experience the condition of one’s own mind or body’.

• I feel fine.
• Do you feel happy?
• He was beginning to feel sleepy.

Feel like

Feel like can mean ‘want’ or ‘would like’. In this sense, feel like is often followed by an –ing form.

• I feel like dancing. (I would like to dance.)
• I felt like laughing, but I didn’t dare. (= I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t dare.)
• I felt like crying. (= I wanted to cry.)
• I felt like crying. (= I wanted to cry.)
• I felt like running away. (NOT I felt like to run away.)
• I felt like laughing.
• I felt like singing.
• I felt like eating something.

Grammar notes

There is a difference between felt like and felt as if / though.

Compare:

• I felt like dancing. (= I wanted to dance.)
• I felt as if I was dancing. (= It seemed as if I was dancing.)