This article offers a cognitive analysis of two prefixed verbal formations: začutiti and občutiti 'to begin to feel'. It is argued that in combination with čutiti 'feel', za- and ob- reflect a different spatial conceptualisation of a change of state, as well as motivating semantic and syntactic differences between the two verbs. Za- in začutiti expresses a metaphorical shift between to not feel and to feel and the beginning of a new state of feeling whereas ob- in občutiti indicates that the beginning of a new state of feeling affects the person who undergoes it entirely. Moreover, the analysis sheds light on the fact that občutiti can also function as an imperfective verb.
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