Tener in Spanish

Tener means to have. It is a very common irregular verb in Spanish.

At A1, you will often use tener for possession, age, and family.

Present tense

Subject	Form
yo	tengo
tú	tienes
él / ella / usted	tiene
nosotros/as	tenemos
vosotros/as	tenéis
ellos / ellas / ustedes	tienen

Use tener for possession

Use tener to say that someone has or owns something.

• Tengo un coche. — I have a car.
• ¿Tienes una mascota? — Do you have a pet?
• Tenemos una casa pequeña. — We have a small house.

Use tener for age

Spanish uses tener + number + años to talk about age.

• Tengo veinte años. — I am twenty years old.
• Mi hermana tiene diez años. — My sister is ten years old.
• ¿Cuántos años tienes? — How old are you?

Do not use ser for age:

• ✅ Tengo veinte años.
• ❌ Soy veinte años.

Review age numbers in Numbers and Calendar.

Use tener to talk about family

You can also use tener to say what family members someone has.

• Clara tiene dos hermanos. — Clara has two brothers.
• Tengo una hermana. — I have a sister.
• Mis padres tienen tres hijos. — My parents have three children.

Common expressions with tener

Spanish also uses tener in some common expressions where English uses to be:

• tener hambre — to be hungry
• tener sed — to be thirsty
• tener frío — to be cold
• tener calor — to be hot

Examples:

• Tengo hambre. — I’m hungry.
• ¿Tienes frío? — Are you cold?

Quick rule

Use tener for having something, age, family, and common expressions like tener hambre and tener sed.