The Verb Tener (to Have) in Spanish – Lesson 14

Tener: to have

Our second Spanish verb is tener, which means “to have”. It’s one of the most used verbs in Spanish, and you’ll see it everywhere: to say what you have, but also to say you’re hungry or how old you are.

Verbs aren’t the most exciting thing to learn, I know. But they’re the backbone of every sentence, so make sure you’re focused for this one. Draw your pronoun table in your notebook, and fill it in as we go!

Tener conjugation: present tense

Pronoun	Tener	English
yo	tengo	I have
tú	tienes	you have
él / ella / usted	tiene	he / she has, you (formal) have
nosotros / nosotras	tenemos	we have
vosotros / vosotras	tenéis	you all have (Spain)
ustedes	tienen	you all have
ellos / ellas	tienen	they have

Yo tengo: I have

Let’s use what we learned in the previous lesson: un coche = a car.

Tú tienes: you have

Wait, la foto? Foto ends in an -o, so you’d expect el foto. But foto is short for la fotografía, which ends in -a and is feminine. So it’s la foto. One of those tricky exceptions we saw in lesson 6!

Él / ella / usted tiene: he / she has, you (formal) have

Just like with querer: take tienes and drop the -s: tiene.

Here’s something interesting: in Spanish, you don’t say “I am hungry”. You say “I have hunger”: tengo hambre. Hambre means hunger, and remember: the h is silent!

Nosotros / nosotras tenemos: we have

Pay attention to the stress: it’s te-NE-mos, not TE-ne-mos.

Vosotros / vosotras tenéis: you all have (Spain)

Unas ideas can mean “some ideas”, “a few ideas” or “any ideas”, depending on the context. And remember, vosotros is mostly used in Spain.

Ustedes tienen: you all have

Una pregunta means “a question”, so “some questions” is unas preguntas.

Ellos / ellas tienen: they have

Same as ustedes: tienen. Sorpresa means “surprise”, and with the numbers from lesson 12:

Why tener is irregular

Look at the beginning of each form, the stem. It keeps changing:

Pronoun	Stem	Ending
yo	teng	-o
tú	tien	-es
él / ella / usted	tien	-e
nosotros / nosotras	ten	-emos
vosotros / vosotras	ten	-éis
ustedes / ellos / ellas	tien	-en

Because the stem changes, we call tener an irregular verb. But look at the endings: -o, -es, -e, -emos, -éis, -en. Exactly the same as querer! And just like querer, the e becomes ie in most forms, except nosotros and vosotros. The only extra surprise is yo tengo.

Useful expressions with tener

Spanish uses tener in places where English uses “to be”. Two you’ll need right away:

You already saw tengo … años in lesson 4. Now you know why it’s tengo: it comes from tener!

Recap: tener (to have)

Spanish	English
yo tengo	I have
tú tienes	you have
él / ella / usted tiene	he / she has, you (formal) have
nosotros / nosotras tenemos	we have
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■

+ 3 more verb forms

Get all 7 verb forms on one printable page, with examples and my tips. Free, straight to your inbox.

Get the free PDF ↓

Practice: fill in tener

Which form of tener fits? Say the full sentence out loud, then click to check.

1. Yo ___ un coche. (I have a car.)

Yo tengo un coche.

2. ¿Tú ___ la foto? (Do you have the photo?)

¿Tú tienes la foto?

3. Ella ___ hambre. (She is hungry.)

Ella tiene hambre.

4. Nosotros ___ dos libros. (We have two books.)

Nosotros tenemos dos libros.

5. ¿Vosotros ___ una idea? (Do you all have an idea? Spain)

¿Vosotros tenéis una idea?

6. Ustedes ___ unas preguntas. (You all have some questions.)

Ustedes tienen unas preguntas.

7. Ellas ___ una sorpresa. (They have a surprise.)

Ellas tienen una sorpresa.

8. How do you say “I’m hungry”?

Tengo hambre. Not “soy hambre”!

Quiz: tener (to have)

10 questions. Show me what you’ve got!

Frequently asked questions

Is tener a regular or irregular verb?

Irregular. The stem changes (teng-, tien-, ten-), so you need to learn it by heart. Luckily, the endings are the same as other verbs like querer.

What other expressions use tener?

Quite a few! Next to tener hambre and tener años, you’ll later learn tener sed (to be thirsty), tener frío (to be cold) and tener sueño (to be sleepy). They all work the same way.

Before you go to the next lesson

Two verbs down! Practice tener until you can say all forms without looking, and make a few sentences about yourself: what do you have? Grab the free reference sheet below. Next up is a green lesson: more Spanish fundamentals. ¡Adiós!