What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?

Sympathy is when you feel sorry for someone or pity them, and don’t fully understand what they are going through. Empathy is the ability to feel the same emotions or sensations that someone else is feeling. For example, sympathy pain is sometimes felt by a sympathetic partner for the expectant mother. The partner may commiserate with the discomfort but doesn’t actually understand how it feels. Empathy refers more to the understanding and shared feeling of someone’s situation.