Truly what you wrote would not have been taken as wrong if the person had seen it from your perspective. If you had wanted to refer to the "confidence" as what you have as a substance or possession, then you were right. But next time you might want to add "the": "I don't feel the confidence in myself" On the other hand, the person found it necessary to correct because it is traditional to: feel + confideNT have + confideNCE

The two words are different: Confidence = a NOUN Confident = an ADJECTIVE (descriptive word that modifies/describes a noun/subject) That means that you can't feel 'confidence' because you can't 'feel' a noun. However, because 'confident' is an adjective you can 'feel' that. Here, the adjective' confident' is describing you, as the subject of the sentence. Depending on the noun/adjective these rules may change but in the example of 'confidence/confident' this is the case :)

You can "feel" an noun. I feel pain. I feel hunger. You can also feel confidence. "What are you feeling right now?" "Confidence". "I don't feel confident when I try to express my opinions in English." (without "in myself") is the best in my opinion.

Johan, just like any language and that includes Spanish, it just sounds better “confident” than confidence. And it will come with experience. I can juggle or add one word to the mix and make “confidence” work in that sentence. Just put “the” in front of Confidence and that will make it sound better. OR you can put the word “within” myself instead of “in” after Confidence and that would be OK too. However it can be personal preferences too. There’s so many different ways to say certain things. It’s all down to opinions, not necessarily corrections. I’m learning Spanish and I’m avoiding any attempt to translate. It’s a hopeless task. Good luck.

You have confidence, or you have a strong feeling of understanding. You feel confident when you feel a strong feeling of understanding. One describes ownership, while the other describes an emotion.