Tener is likely one of the very first verbs that you came across in your Spanish-learning journey. As you’ll know, the basic meaning of tener in English is “to have”. However, there are many useful expressions with tener in Spanish in which the verb does not translate as “to have”.
The Coffee Break Spanish Show is a video and audio podcast series of short, informal discussions about interesting topics for Spanish learners. In our latest episode, Concha and Mark talk about useful, everyday expressions with tener, and in particular, ones in which “to be” would be used instead in English.
Keep reading to learn more about these expressions, and we’d recommend listening to the podcast as you read. Plus, look out for our free worksheet at the end of the article, which will help you practise what you learn!
The verb ‘tener’
As you may know, tener is an irregular verb in the present tense. So, let’s start by doing a quick review of its conjugation in the present tense:
(yo) tengo
(tú) tienes
(él/ella/usted) tiene
(nosotros/nosotras) tenemos
(vosotros/vosotras) tenéis
(ellos/ellas/ustedes) tienen
In its most basic meaning, the verb tener is used to talk about possession – the things that you have. For example:
Tengo una familia maravillosa.
I have a wonderful family.
Tenemos una casa preciosa.
We have a beautiful house.
‘Tener’ in English
However, tener is not always used for possession and, what’s more, tener doesn’t always translate as “to have” in English.
In fact, there are many occasions when we use tener, when in English we would use the verb “to be” instead.
Expressions with ‘tener’
The first example we’ll look at is one you’ll already be very familiar with, and this is when you’re talking about age.
Tener … años
Remember that we talk about “having” years in Spanish, when giving someone’s age. For example, we would say:
¿Cuántos años tienes?
How old are you?
Literally, this means “how many years do you have?” The answer to this may be:
Tengo dieciocho años.
I am 18 years old. (Literally, “I have 18 years.”)
This is our first example of a tener expression, where tener is used in Spanish where “to be” would be used in its English equivalent.
9 more expressions with ‘tener’
There are many other expressions with tener that work in a similar way.
In the podcast episode, Concha gives us a great example sentence that contains some very common, everyday tener expressions. Here it is:
Tienes razón: Juan Pablo siempre tiene frío cuando tiene hambre y, si tiene sueño, no tiene paciencia.
You are right – Juan Pablo is always cold when he is hungry, and if he is sleepy, he isn’t patient.
Let’s talk through each of these expressions with tener one by one.
Tener razón
tener razón
to be right
Razón is a noun and it translates as “reason” or “correctness” in English. Tener razón therefore literally means “to have reason / correctness”, but this tener expression would translate into English as “to be right”. For example:
Tengo razón.
I am right.
Tienes razón.
You are right.
Tener frío / calor
tener frío
to be cold
tener calor
to be hot
In Spanish, we also express the feeling of being cold or warm using expressions with tener. For example:
Tengo mucho calor.
I am very hot.
Juan Pablo siempre tiene frío.
Juan Pablo is always cold.
Tener hambre / sed
tener hambre
to be hungry
tener sed
to be thirsty
These two tener expressions are used to talk about feeling hungry or thirsty. In Spanish, you literally say that you “have hunger” or “have thirst”. For instance:
Tiene hambre.
He / She is hungry.
Tengo mucha sed.
I am very thirsty.
Note in this example that we have used mucha to describe being “very” thirsty. This is because we are literally saying “I have a lot of thirst”, which means we have to use mucha (agreeing with the feminine noun sed), instead of muy.
Tener sueño
tener sueño
to be sleepy
In Spanish, we use another of our expressions with tener to talk about feeling sleepy. We are therefore literally saying something like “to have sleepiness”. For example:
Juan Pablo tiene sueño.
Juan Pablo is sleepy.
Tener paciencia / prisa
tener paciencia
to be patient
tener prisa
to be in a hurry
Whether you’re waiting in line or rushing to catch a train, we’ll be using more expressions with tener in Spanish. For instance:
No tiene paciencia.
He / She isn’t patient.
Tengo prisa: necesito irme.
I’m in a hurry – I need to go.
Tener ganas
tener ganas de
to feel like / fancy, to look forward to
One very useful expression with tener is tener ganas de. This expression can either be followed by a noun or a verb in the infinitive form.
Tener ganas de has two related meanings. First of all, this tener expression is used when you fancy or feel like something. For instance:
Tengo ganas de cantar.
I feel like singing.
Tengo ganas de un café.
I fancy a coffee.
The second meaning of this expression with tener is “to look forward to”. For example:
Mark y yo tenemos muchas ganas de grabar el próximo episodio de The Coffee Break Spanish Show.
Mark and I are really looking forward to filming the next episode of The Coffee Break Spanish Show.
This tener expression is also used in the sense of “can’t wait” in English.
¡Tengo muchas ganas! / ¡Qué ganas tengo!
I can’t wait!
If you want to say that you can’t wait for something in Spanish, you can therefore use this one of our expressions with tener, rather than saying no puedo esperar, which wouldn’t make sense in this context.
Practising expressions with ‘tener’
Now that we’ve learned 10 new tener expressions, it’s time to put your knowledge to the test!
Try translating the following sentences from Spanish into English or from English into Spanish. The answers are at the end of this article.
- Julia siempre tiene razón.
- No vamos a comer ahora porque no tenemos hambre.
- I’m looking forward to your birthday party.
- You must be patient when you work with children.
We hope that you now feel more confident using some of the most common, everyday expressions with tener – particularly those where “to be” would be used in English.
Are you also a learner of French or Italian? If so, we have an episode in each of these languages on a very similar topic. Learn more about avoir expressions in this episode of The Coffee Break French Show, or for help with your avere expressions, check out this episode of The Coffee Break Italian Show.
If you enjoyed this lesson, don’t forget to watch or listen to the full podcast episode with Concha and Mark on The Coffee Break Spanish Show. And make sure to subscribe to our podcast feed or our channel on YouTube to learn when new episodes are available.
Finally, if you’d like more help with your Spanish, we regularly send out free, bite-sized email lessons. You can sign up for these for free below.
For now, good luck as you continue practising your tener expressions and, as always, happy Coffee Breaking!
PS. Here are the answers to the translation challenge:
- Julia is always right.
- We aren’t going to eat now because we’re not hungry.
- Tengo ganas de tu fiesta de cumpleaños.
- Debes tener paciencia / Hay que tener paciencia / Tienes que tener paciencia cuando trabajas con niños.
For more information about how to use deber, hay que and tener que to express obligation in Spanish, you can find another episode of The Coffee Break Spanish Show here.
