This is the 13825th most frequent Spanish word.
sentían
"Sentían" means "they felt" (past tense of sentir).
The verb 'sentían' here denotes feelings or emotions (they felt) in the past continuous tense.
Ellos se sentían felices al reunirse después de tanto tiempo.
They felt happy to reunite after such a long time.
The verb 'sentían' in this sentence describes a gradual change in an emotional state over time in the past.
A medida que pasaba el tiempo, sentían menos miedo de hablar en público.
As time went on, they felt less fear of speaking in public.
In this context, 'sentían' expresses a perception or intuition regarding an idea or decision in a past ongoing action.