Feelings: The Words Beyond Happy and Sad

A2 · Vocabulary

Feelings: The Words Beyond Happy and Sad

📖 From my experience:
I grew up in a house where feelings were not named. Happy and sad covered everything. Coming to English as an adult, I discovered a vocabulary I had never had — not even in Bengali. Overwhelmed. Relieved. Melancholy. Apprehensive. Language doesn’t just describe feelings. It lets you have them more precisely.

🎯 Language focus:
Emotion vocabulary from A2 to B2:

A2: happy, sad, angry, scared, surprised, bored, tired
B1: anxious, frustrated, relieved, embarrassed, proud, disappointed
B2+: overwhelmed, melancholy, apprehensive, elated, resentful, nostalgic

Grammar note: many feelings use feel + adjective (I feel anxious) or verb + -ed/-ing (I’m exhausted / It’s exhausting).

✅ -ed vs -ing feelings:
😔 I’m bored. (the feeling is in me)
😴 This lesson is boring. (the cause is out there)
😊 She’s excited about the trip. (feeling)
🎉 The news is exciting. (cause)

-ed or -ing?

1. The film was very ___ (move) — I cried. moving

2. I was completely ___ (exhaust) after the marathon. exhausted

3. She feels ___ (apprehend) about the job interview. apprehensive — she is nervous about what might happen

🧒 For younger learners: Feelings charades! Act out an emotion — the class guesses. Young learners can draw their own ’emoji dictionary’.

👩‍🏫 Cambridge CELTA note: Emotion vocabulary links naturally to personal narrative writing (B1 Cambridge task). The -ed/-ing distinction is a classic anticipated error — drill concept: ‘Is the PERSON affected, or is the THING causing it?’ Use faces on flashcards for A2 drilling.

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Feelings: The Words Beyond Happy and Sad