Tener Expressions: Tener Que Infinitive

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Idiomatic expressions using the Spanish verb tener are common but before going into these expressions in more detail I will explain what an idiom is for those of you who may not know. In short, an idiom is an expression that cannot be immediately understood if translated literally. A few examples of idioms in English are: to have ‘a strong stomach‘, to be ‘as good as new‘ and to ‘jump the gun‘.

There are many such idioms in Spanish and many of these use the verb Tener

Idiomatic Expressions Using Tener

There are quite a few idioms that use tener followed by a noun whereas in English ‘to be’ would be used followed by an adjective.

• tener … años -  to be … years old
• tener calor -  to be hot
• tener cuidado -  to be careful
• tener en cuenta -  to keep in mind
• tener éxito -  to be successful
• tener frío -  to be cold
• tener ganas de -  to be eager to do, to feel like
• tener gracia -  to be funny
• tener hambre -  to be hungry
• tener miedo -  to be afraid
• tener paciencia -  to be patient
• tener prisa -  to be in a hurry
• tener razón -  to be right
• tener sed  – to be thirsty
• tener sueño -  to be sleepy
• tener suerte -  to be lucky

There are also those expressions that use tener que followed by an infinitive which translates as ‘to have to’ or ‘must’:

• tener que hacer -  to have things to do
• tener que ver con -  to have to do with
• tener que salir -  to have to go out
• tener que comer -  to have to eat

Learning expressions that use tener is very useful, but as there are so many it can be quite difficult to remember them all but this is where a software program like the verbarrator is a very useful aid. Find out more by checking out this verbarrator review.

Tener Present Tense
Tener Imperfect
Tener Preterite
Tener Future Tense
Tener In The Subjunctive
Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Tener in the Subjunctive

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Tener in the Subjunctive, as with the the indicative, is extremely irregular in all tenses. The subjunctive as outlined in previous posts is used a lot more in Spanish than it is in English where it is rarely put to use.

Although I will probably be shot by the language purists who may read read this, the average student need not worry too much about the subjunctive because the indicative mood and it’s tenses are used much more frequently and are much more worthy of attention. Having said that, if you are a more advanced student then the following conjugations will be of great use to you.

One thing though, if you must learn the subjunctive tenses of tener you may find a verb training tool such as the verbarrator, will make the task much easier and you can find a review of it here – verbarrator review should you wish to check it out.

Tener in the Subjunctive

Present Tense Subjunctive

(yo) tenga
(tú) tengas
(él/ella/usted) tenga
(nosotros/as) tengamos
(vosotros/as) tengáis
(ellos/ellas/ustedes) tengan

Imperfect Tense Subjunctive

(yo) tuviera or tuviese
(tú) tuvieras or tuvieses
(él/ella/usted) tuviera or tuviese
(nosotros/as) tuviéramos or tuviésemos
(vosotros/as) tuvierais or tuvieseis
(ellos/ellas/ustedes) tuvieran or tuviesen

Future Tense Subjunctive

(yo) tuviere
(tú) tuvieres
(él/ella/usted) tuviere
(nosotros/as) tuviéremos
(vosotros/as) tuviereis
(ellos/ellas/ustedes) tuvieren

Tener Present Tense
Tener Imperfect
Tener Preterite
Tener Future Tense
Tener In The Subjunctive
Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Tener Future Tense: The Future Tense of Tener Conjugated

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Tener future tense, as with so many of the other tenses for this verb, is extremely irregular.As you will see from the formation of each conjugation, tener changes the ending ‘e’ for a ‘d’ whereas the regular conjugation for er verbs would remain unchanged.

Although tener future tense is not too difficult to learn in itself, remembering to change the ‘e’ to a ‘d’ when used in conversation is easily forgotten…practice makes perfect they say! However, this can be made a lot easier by using a verb training tool such as the verbarrator for which you can find a review here – verbarrator review.

Tener Future Tense

1st person singular (yo) tendré – I will have

2nd person singular (tú) tendrás – you will have

3rd person singular (él/ella/usted) tendrá – he/she and you will have

1st person plural (nosotros/as) tendremos – we will have

2nd person plural (vosotros/as) tendréis – you will have

3rd person plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes) tendrán – they/you will have

Tener Present Tense

Tener Imperfect

Tener Preterite

Tener Future Tense

Tener In The Subjunctive

Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Tener Preterite: Tener Preterite Conjugation

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The preterite form of tener is highly irregular but unfortunately is unavoidable as it is frequently used. There is only really one way to learn tener preterite and that is to memorize it, although this process can be made far easier by using a verb training tool, one such tool is the verbarrator for which you can find a review here – verbarrator review.

Tener Preterite Conjugation

• 1st person singular (yo) tuve – I had
• 2nd person singular (tú) tuviste – you had
• 3rd person singular (él/ella/usted) tuvo – he/she and you had
• 1st person plural (nosotros/as) tuvimos – we had
• 2nd person plural (vosotros/as) tuvisteis – you had
• 3rd person plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes) tuvieron – they/you had

Tener Present Tense
Tener Imperfect
Tener Preterite
Tener Future Tense
Tener In The Subjunctive
Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Tener Imperfect: The Conjugation of Tener in the Imperfect Tense

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The Imperfect tense of the spanish verb tener is one of two past tenses regularly used in Spanish. Fortunately, the imperfect tense of tener follows the regular conjugation pattern as used for -er verbs unlike the other past tense, the preterite which is highly irregular.

In fact most of the tenses for Tener are irregular and learning them can be difficult but learning each tense can be made a lot easier with the use of a verb training tool such as the verbarrator for which you can find a review here – verbarrator review.

Tener Imperfect Conjugation

1st person singular (yo) tenía – I was having

2nd person singular (tú) tenías – you were having

3rd person singular (él/ella/usted) tenía – he/she was and you were having

1st person plural (nosotros/as) teníamos – we were having

2nd person plural (vosotros/as) teníais – you were having

3rd person plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes)tenían – they/you were having

Tener Present Tense

Tener Imperfect

Tener Preterite

Tener Future Tense

Tener In The Subjunctive

Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Tener Present Tense: The Conjugation of Tener in the Present Tense

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The present tense of the spanish verb tener is one of those tenses that is an absolute necessity to know well. Tener present tense formation combine two common forms of irregular verb structure.

Firstly it is known as a ‘go’ irregular which is the name given to Spanish irregular verbs that end in -go in the first person singular of the present tense and…secondly, it is an ‘e’ to ‘ie’ verb, which means that the e in the stem of the verb changes to ‘ie’ in the second and third person singular and third person plural.

If that sounds a little confusing do not worry as the conjugation table below shows these irregularities of tener present tense clearly.However, learning the Present tense of tener can be made a lot easier by utilizing a verb training tool such as the verbarrator for which you can find a review here if you are interested in learning better and more quickly – verbarrator review.

Tener Present Tense Conjugation

1st person singular (yo) tengo -  I have
2nd person singular (tú) tienes  – you have
3rd person singular (él/ella/usted) tiene – he/she has and you have

1st person plural (nosotros/as) tenemos – we have
2nd person plural (vosotros/as) teneís – you have
3rd person plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes) tienen – they/you have

Tener Present Tense
Tener Imperfect
Tener Preterite
Tener Future Tense
Tener In The Subjunctive
Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Tener Conjugation: The Conjugation of Tener in Spanish

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Tener Conjugation

Understanding tener conjugation patterns is vitally important because the Spanish verb tener is one of the most commonly used verbs in the Spanish language.

This blogpost will concentrate on the various different conjugations of tener but also, on the many different common idioms or expressions that tener is used for.

The conjugation of Tener is irregular in all but the future tense so it makes sense to break down the conjugations of tener into seperate posts each covering a specific tense, doing so should make learning this difficult irregular Spanish verb a lot easier to digest.

Simply click the tense you require information for:

Tener Present Tense
Tener Imperfect
Tener Preterite
Tener Future Tense
Tener In The Subjunctive
Tener Idiomatic Expressions

Hope this post provides you with the help you need, why noto bookmark it so you can find it easily whenever you need to.

Spanish Verb Conjugation Chart

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Spanish Verb Conjugation Chart

When studying Spanish verb conjugation a chart highlighting the various endings for each specific tense is an invaluable aid. There are many Spanish verb conjugation charts online, most of which are not available to print, which, in my opinion, is a complete waste of time as I realized when I was studying verb formation. So, what I would like to provide you with, completely FREE by the way, is a completely printable Spanish verb conjugation chart in pdf format.

Please feel free to print off as many copies as you wish, hand them out to your classmates or, anyone else you feel would benefit from them.

If you are a teacher use them freely to hand out to your students and why not take advantage of the printable conjugation sheets of some of the most common irregular Spanish verbs on the main site, accessed using the link at the top of this page.

If you find this Spanish verb Conjugation Chart of use please bookmark this page/site so you will find it much more easily in the future, and please feel free to add a comment!

Here’s the link: http://www.irregularspanishverbs.com/SpanishVerbConjugationChart.pdf

Hasta luego

What is the Best Spanish Verb App?

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The best Spanish verb app?…A week ago I couldn’t have told you but if you are one of those, ‘up with the times’ kind of people, unlike myself, then you are probably into apps in a big way! So it is not surprising to find that there are a number of Spanish verb apps currently available. I will not even attempt to try and sound like an expert on apps as I would probably sound a bit foolish, but I will call upon an expert in apps that I know…my nephew!

I have been asked on many occasions if I know of the best Spanish verb app and I have to confess that in order to provide an acceptable answer I had to consult with my hi-tech nephew for an informed response. He provided me with a shortlist which I checked out but there was one thing that I would like to stress before going any further…if you want the best tool for learning Spanish verbs there is absolutely no comparison between any of the apps my nephew showed me and the ‘verbarrator‘ verb training software which you can check out a review of by clicking on the link.

But if it is the best Spanish verb app you are after then you wouldn’t go far wrong by downloading the FREE app Spanish Verbs Ultimate, it does have a few minor mistakes that are currently being corrected and the app is also being actively updated regularly.

Learning Spanish Verbs Online

Click Here to learn how to conjugate irregular Spanish verbs quickly and with ease

Learning Spanish verbs online is the most effective way to master this difficult part of learning Spanish. Many students have struggled with learning Spanish verbs, in particular irregular verbs, and it is hardly surprising considering the mind-numbingly boring and tedious old school methods that are used to master conjugation. Ever since languages have been learnt the only way a student could eventually master verb conjugation was to recite and memorize verbsover and over again until they could recite them in their sleep. Although effective, this was very time consuming and hardly what could be called enjoyable.

It is a well known fact that it is far easier to learn something if the enjoyment level is high and this is why learning Spanish verbs online has become increasingly popular. There are many sites online that provide information regarding the conjugation of verbs, such as this one, that provide all the necessary information required to study Spanish verbs, but none offer the verb training needed to help students learn difficult conjugation easily whilst at the same time enjoy doing so! There are many sites that offer Spanish verb conjugators, which are very handy, but in all fairness they are all just glorified verb conjugation books, sure they provide the information you require much quicker than if you were trying to find it in a resource book, but apart from that they will not help you master verb conjugation.

If you want to know the best way of learning Spanish verbs online there is only one tool currently available that I would suggest considering which will not only provide the great results you require, but will do so quickly and in a way that makes learning them great fun and that tool is called ‘verbarrator‘. I myself have a copy and have no hesitation recommending it to any person who asks for my advice on the best way to learn Spanish verbs. So if you are looking for the best way of learning Spanish verbs online check it out…it’s not free…but it is a quality verb training tool.