Have you ever wonder how to express your possessions, belongings and obligations in Spanish? Here you will find the answer, and learn the perfect way to say it. To express all of these in spanish, we use the verbs tener and tener que, what in english we know as to have and have to. Let's start with the forms tener and tener que in present tense:
Yo: Tengo - tengo que
Tú: Tienes - tienes que
Usted, él, ella: Tiene - tiene que
Nosotros: Tenemos - tenemos que
Ustedes, ellos, ellas: Tienen - tienen que
Tener y tener que are one of the most common verbs in the Spanish language. It functions in various ways.
Tener:
This verb expresses:
- Possession. Examples: Tengo una a casa (I have a house). / Él tiene un teléfono (He has a cell phone)
- Age. Example: Tengo 24 años. (I'm 24 years old)
- Idiomatic expressions: an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up. For example:
- Tengo frío (I'm cold)
- Tengo calor (I'm hot)
- Tienes hambre (You're hungry)
- Tiene sed (She's thirsty)
- Tenemos sueño (We are sleepy)
- Tienes razón (You're right)
- Tengo prisa (I'm in a hurry)
- Tengo miedo (I'm afraid)
Tener que:
We often use tener que to say that something is obligatory, for example:
Los niños tienen que ir a la escuela (Children have to go to school)
The basic structure of tener que is:
Subject + Tener que (conjugated) + infinitive verb.
Ex: - María tiene que ir a jugar.
- Ella tiene que ir a trabajar.
In each of the above cases, the obligation is not the subject's opinion or idea. The obligation comes from outside.
In short, tener expresses belongings, age, possessions and idiomatic expressions, while tener que indicates obligations. Tener que y tener are always going to be conjugated.