In Today’s lesson, you will learn 6 ways to use Tener (to have) in Spanish. This verb is important in Spanish, not only because it is such a basic and often-used verb, but because of its many uses. You will also learn the conjugation, and you will practice with interactive activities. Happy learning!
6 Ways to use Tener (to have) in Spanish
1. «Tener» to speak about age, edad
In English, we use the verb to be to show age: I am twenty-four years old. In Spanish, however, one has years: Tengo veinticuatro años.
When asking the age of someone (or something), you literally will ask how many years (or months, days, etc.) he, she, or it has:
2. «Tener» to talk about possessions, posesiones.
The simplest and most common use of tener is to show possession.
This one works the same as in English, to speak about things you have, you own, your belongings, pertenencias.
3. «Tener» with several expressions about states or needs, expresiones de estados o necesidades
There are several phrases in Spanish that use tener where in English we use the verb to be. For example, instead of being hungry (and adjective), one has hunger ( a noun). Below is an infographic with the most common of these expressions.
Would you like to practice the content of this article through a personalized conversation class with a teacher?
4. «Tener» to speak about illnesses or sickness, enfermedades
Quite similar to the way we express in English, too.
If you want to know more about sickness in Spanish, check out «How to express pain in Spanish»
5. «Tener» to express obligations and needs, obligaciones y necesidades
In order to show obligation or needs in Spanish, we will use the following recipe
Tener (conjugated) + que + (verb in infinitive)
Tengo que ir al dentista, I have to go to the dentist
This expression can be translated as “someone has to do something.” Tener is conjugated according to the subject of the sentence.
6. «Tener» to express «I feel like …»
To express «you feel like something» in Spanish we say «tener ganas de…»
EXAMPLES
Tengo ganas de helado – I am feeling like an ice cream
Tengo ganas de comida mexicana – I am feeling like having mexican food
But when we feel like a verb, in English we use the gerund (verb+ing) in Spanish we use the infinitive instead.
EXAMPLE
Tengo ganas de ir al cine – I feel like going to the cinema
6 ways to use Tener (to have) in Spanish
The conjugation of the verb TENER in the present
Tener is an irregular verb, which means that its conjugations don’t follow a common pattern. Since we use this verb a lot in Spanish, it’s a good idea to practice the present tense conjugations so you can use them quickly.
If you click here, you can see all the verb conjugations of tener in the different forms.
6 ways to use Tener (to have) in Spanish
INTERACTIVE EXERCISES
EXERCISE 1
EXERCISE 2
EXERCISE 3
6 ways to use tener (to have) in Spanish
Practice at your own pace
6 ways to use tener
(to have) in Spanish
Download and print out these infographics (PDF 2 pages document) and practice at your own pace.
I hope you enjoyed it and learn something, so you have something to practice this week.
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¡Hasta pronto!
