Verb of the week: Tener

Tener means 'to have' and the Spanish use it a lot – for all kinds of things!

For example 'tengo que' means 'I have to' or 'Do I have to?' and it is also used where, in English, we would say 'I am'. For example 'tengo sed', which to translates to I have thirst, means 'I am thirsty'. You do not say 'estoy sed'. It works in lots of instances including being hungry and being hot.

In English, there are only two conjugations:           He/she/it has
                                                                      I/you/we/they have

In Spanish, every group gets its own form of the verb and, of course, there's also the formal and informal to consider.

                                        Present                  Preterite
yo                                     tengo                     tuve
tú                                     tienes                    tuviste
él/ella/usted                    tiene                      tuvo
nosotros                          tenemos                 tuvimos
vosotros                          tenéis                    tuvisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes          tienen                    tuvieron

Past participle: tenido
Gerund: teniendo

Examples (present tense):

Tengo que salir esta noche – I have to go out tonight
Tiene que hacerlo – you have to do it
¿Cuántos años tiene ella? - how old is she?
Ella tiene dieciséis años - she is sixteen years old
¿Tiene un dolor de cabeza? - do you have a headache?
¿Tengo que trasbordar? - do I have to change? (train, bus, etc)
Gerund: Estoy teniendo un mal día – I am having a bad day

Examples (preterite):

No tuvimos suerte – we had no luck
Tuve unas vacaciones terribles – I had a terrible holiday
Tuve un buen viaje – I had a good journey
Tuve que hacerlo – I had to do it

Perfect: He tenido tres maridos – I have had three husbands

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

El Tren by Antonio Machado

Image
Antonio Machado Antonio Machado or, to give him his full name, Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado Ruiz was one of Spain’s best-known poets. He is famous for his poetry describing the beauty of the Spanish countryside and also his love poems. He had his first poems published in 1901 and his first book of poetry in 1903. In the same year Machado was offered the job of Professor of French at the school in Soria. Here he met Leonor Izquierdo, the daughter of the owners of the boarding house Machado was staying in, and fell in love. They were married in 1909: he was 34; she was 14. In 1911, the couple went to live in Paris where Leonor contracted tuberculosis. They returned to Spain and Leonor died a year later, aged just 18. Leonor Izquierdo Machado was devastated and left Soria and went to live in Baeza. Here he wrote a series of poems dealing with the death of Leonor. He never remarried but had a long affair with Pilar de Valderrama,...
Read more

Las Dudas de Marta - ocho

Tarea: lección veintidos - Las Dudas de Marta (translate) Capítulo Dos continuado “¿Qué hacemos ahora? pregunta Alberto después de tomar el café. “Yo quiero ir de compras. ¿Vamos al Corte Inglés?” sugiere su madre. “¡Oh no! Las mujeres y las compras. Está bien, pero yo me quedaré en la sección de música.” Después de ir al Corte Inglés, los tres se pasean por la Gran Vía. La Gran Vía es una de las calles más conocidas de Madrid. Hay muchos restaurantes, librerías, tiendas de ropa … “¿Volvemos al hotel? Estoy cansada. Además, tenemos que prepáranos para la cena,” dice la madre de Alberto. “¡Pero mamá! ¿Otra vez pensando en comer?” Marta y su madre se ríen. “¿A qué hora empieza El Amor Brujo?” “A las diez de la noche. Tenemos que cenar temprano, hacia las ocho y media o las nueve. Podemos cenar en el barrio de La Latina. Así estaremos cerca del teatro.” “¡Perfecto! Pero ahora vamos al hotel. Tengo que hacerme la manicura, y quiero estrenar lo...
Read more