Irregular Spanish Verbs:
Tener - (to have)
' Tener ', usually translated as ' to have ', is a very useful verb. It's primary use is to indicate possession. However, in Spanish ' tener ' is used in a number of idiomatic expressions that indicate emotions and states.
As with the verbs ' ser' and ' estar ', the English verb ' to have ' has two versions in Spanish; ' tener ' which we will cover here, and ' haber '. 'Haber' (which is covered here), is the equivalent of the English auxilliary verb 'to have' as in "you have played" and should never be used to express possession.
Here are the conjugations of the verb 'tener' in the present tense.
(For a complete printable conjugation sheet, showing all the irregular parts of ' tener ' click here or on the image above)
| Yo tengo |
I have |
| Tú tienes |
You have (familiar)(sing.) |
| Él tiene |
He has |
| Ella tiene |
She has |
| Nosotros tenemos |
We have |
| Vosotros teneis |
You have (polite)(plur.) |
| Ellos tienen |
They have |
Note: Many students become confused with the issue of whether or not they should use the personal prefix; yo, tú, es...etc when writing or speaking in Spanish. The answer to this will depend upon your location and your course material. In European Spanish these prefixes (pronouns) are normally dropped and only used when ambiguity needs to be avoided; whereas in Latin American Spanish the use of the pronouns is much more widely used.
Most of the time the verb 'tener' is used in very much the same way as the possessive form of 'to have' in English:
| Yo tengo dos hijos |
I have two children |
| El tiene un coche blanco |
He has a white car |
| Tuvimos cuatro casas |
We had four houses |
| Ellos tienen una escuela buena |
They have a good school |
However, this is not always the case...
Some common expressions using the irregular spanish verb 'tener':
In Spanish many things are possessed that in English would make no sense at all, for example in Spanish you have hunger rather than being hungry, and you have 20 years rather than you are 20 years old.
Here is a list of some of the most commonly used expressions.
| tener calor |
to be or to feel hot |
| tener ____ años |
to be ____ years old |
| tener cuidado |
to be careful |
| tener la culpa |
to be at fault |
| tener éxito |
to be successful |
| tener frío |
to be or feel cold |
| tener hambre |
to be hungry |
| tener miedo |
to be afraid |
| tener prisa |
to be in a hurry |
| tener que + infinitive |
to have to... |
| tener razón |
to be right |
| no tener razón |
to be wrong |
| tener sed |
to be thirsty |
| tener suerte |
to be lucky |
For more information about the newest and best Spanish Verb Conjugator guaranteed to quickly improve your mastery of Spanish verbs, click here.
