Tengo algo para ti: the uses of the verb tener in Spanish
n this article we will look at different uses of the verb tener in Spanish, and we will see some comparisons with verbs in other languages, since not in all cases or in all functions does this verb coincide with those that, at first glance, are its equivalents. It is a verb that, moreover, deserves a detailed review, since it is used very frequently. In Spanish and in all the languages I know. Let's go!
When I started learning German I already had a good level of English. In fact, probably because German and English are Germanic languages, I found German very similar to English and couldn’t stop answering in English every time my teacher asked me something in German. And, of course, I made, and still make, transfer errors between English and German. At that time my English influenced my German, but now the thing is more reciprocal and, for example, I have found myself using the English verb to become with the meaning of the German verb bekommen (to receive, to get). The point of all this is that in a German class, when I was taking the A1 level, I answered a teacher’s question with Ich habe zu arbeiten. My other two languages validated that construction: in Spanish you can say tengo que trabajar, and in English I have to work. But no. That construction, possible in Spanish and English, is ungrammatical in German. Because of things like this, I believe that the verb tener in Spanish needs to be seen in more detail than others. To give an example, tener in Spanish does not function as an auxiliary in compound tenses, while avoir, haben and to have, their “equivalents” in French, German and English respectively, do.
The verb tener is irregular in the present indicative, and it is also irregular in other verb tenses. Let’s quickly review the conjugation in the present indicative, which is what we will use for the examples in this article. All the uses of the verb tener that we will see are valid in all verb tenses, but we will use the present indicative to simplify.
Yo tengo
Tú tienes
Usted tiene
Él/Ella tiene
Nosotros/as tenemos
Vosotros/as tenéis
Ustedes tienen
Ellos/Ellas tienen
Uses of the verb tener.
The first of the uses is to indicate possession, and in this case it coincides with avoir, haben and to have.
Tengo un coche nuevo. (I have a new car).
María tiene dos hermanos. (María has two brothers).
¿Tienes tiempo libre esta tarde? (Do you have free time this afternoon?).
Tenemos una casa en la playa. (We have a house at the beach).
When we use this verb to indicate possession we can use definite or indefinite articles, or demonstratives. You can read more about their use here, here and here. In the case of uncountable nouns like hambre (hunger), sed (thirst), tiempo (time), paciencia (patience), etc., the most frequent thing is not to use articles, but this has exceptions. For example, in tengo el tiempo necesario para hacer el trabajo (I have the necessary time to do the work) we use the definite article to refer to the necessary period of time. Or, in colloquial language you can hear tengo un hambre instead of tengo hambre (I’m hungry), which means tengo mucha hambre (I’m very hungry). This generally goes along with a pronunciation that emphasizes what is expressed.
Furthermore, there are many nouns that are normally used with the verb tener without articles because they represent basic or general things that each person needs. This does not coincide in many cases with other languages: tener trabajo (to have a job), tener casa (to have a house), tener auto (to have a car), tener seguro (to have insurance), tener perro (to have a dog), tener familia (to have family) and a long etcetera are normally used without articles, unless you want to specify something or you are going to add, for example, an adjective. Thus, tengo casa means that one owns real estate, and tengo una casa en el centro y una en la playa (I have a house downtown and one at the beach) adds more information. Tengo familia (I have family) means that one has relatives, and tengo una familia hermosa (I have a beautiful family) means that one is happy to have those relatives. Articles are also not used when introducing nouns that are supposed to be unique, as in tengo pareja (I have a partner) or tengo carnet de conducir (I have a driver’s license). There are many cases like this, and you have to learn them by heart because, like many things in languages, there is no logic as such. For a reason this does not coincide in different languages, but in each language it works perfectly.
Expressing age.
In Spanish the verb tener is used to express age. Yes, in Spanish tenemos años (we have years), we possess them. In this case Spanish coincides with French. Ils ont aussi des ans. But not with English or German. The grammatical structure is the same, that is, the years are the direct object of the verb tener, and articles are not used. (Yo) tengo 42 años. (I am 42 years old.) The indefinite article can be used when speculating about a person’s age: tendrá/debe tener unos 30 años más o menos (he/she must be about 30 years old, more or less).
Expressing physical sensations or emotional states.
Hasn’t it happened to you that the response to something they told you occurs to you late? It has to me, many times. Let’s go back to my German classes: once the teacher told us that it didn’t make sense to say tengo frío (I’m cold), because cold is felt, not had. But in German fear is had, just like in Spanish, and it doesn’t make sense either, because fear is something that is felt. I should have told him that, but it occurred to me today :). The point is that many physical sensations are had in Spanish. This coincides in many cases with French and in some with German.
Tener frío (to be cold): Tengo mucho frío, ¿puedes cerrar la ventana? (I’m very cold, can you close the window?).
Tener calor (to be hot): Los niños tienen calor. (The children are hot).
Tener hambre (to be hungry): Tenemos hambre, vamos a comer. (We’re hungry, let’s eat).
Tener sed (to be thirsty): ¿Tienes sed? Te traigo un vaso de agua. (Are you thirsty? I’ll bring you a glass of water).
Tener sueño (to be sleepy): Tengo mucho sueño, me voy a dormir. (I’m very sleepy, I’m going to sleep).
Tener miedo (to be afraid): Los niños le tienen miedo a la oscuridad. (Children are afraid of the dark).
Tener vergüenza (to be embarrassed): Tengo vergüenza de hablar en público. (I’m embarrassed to speak in public).
Tener celos (to be jealous): María tiene celos de su hermana. (María is jealous of her sister).
Tener envidia (to be envious): No tengo envidia de nadie. (I’m not envious of anyone).
Tener prisa (to be in a hurry): Tengo prisa, llegaré tarde. (I’m in a hurry, I’ll be late).
Tener ganas (to feel like): Tengo ganas de ir al cine. (I feel like going to the movies).
Tener antojo (to have a craving): Mi hija tiene antojo de chocolate. (My daughter has a craving for chocolate).
In the particular case of English, expressions like I’m hungry have a direct translation to Spanish. In this case, estoy hambriento. But nobody talks like that. While it is correct, it sounds literary. Other expressions in common use are tener suerte (to be lucky) (or tener mala suerte – to have bad luck) and tener éxito (to be successful).
Ich habe zu arbeiten.
In Spanish there’s the verb deber to express responsibility and obligation, which corresponds to the verbs must, müssen and devoir of English, German and French, respectively. Thus, we can say debo trabajar (I must work). But in spoken language we normally use the verbal periphrasis tener que + infinitive for this (here you have more information about periphrases in Spanish). This corresponds to the construction have to + infinitive of English. Thus, to express something that we must do we normally do it like this: tengo que trabajar (I have to work), tenemos que hacer las compras (we have to do the shopping), tienes que dormir más (you have to sleep more). Tener que + infinitive, being a periphrasis, function as a nucleus, so they always go together in the sentence, and in compound tenses the auxiliary goes before the participle of tener, which is the conjugated verb: he tenido que trabajar mucho últimamente (I have had to work a lot lately).
I think that was enough information. As I was telling you before, all these functions of the verb tener are valid for the rest of the verb tenses in Spanish. Here I leave you exercises to practice this topic. Thanks for reading!
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