4.7: Gramática- El verbo tener
- Page ID
- 113921
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Objetivos
- Recognize and use the irregular verb “tener”
- Use “tener” for saying people’s age
Verbo tener
The verb tener (to have) is special in the sense that it has an irregular yo form and also has a change of e>ie in the stem.
tener (to have) |
|
(stem: ten; irregular yo-form; stem-vowel change) | |
singular | plural |
yo tengo | nosotros tenemos |
tú tienes | vosotros tenéis |
él tiene ella tiene usted tiene | ellos tienen ellas tienen ustedes tienen |

(Note: “hablar” is in the present subjunctive here because it’s a command. That will come in a later course…)

miedo = fear, porque = because
- María tiene una clase de psicología a las dos de la tarde. (María has a psychology class at 2 p.m.)
- ¿Cuántos lápices tienes en tu mochila? (How many pencils do you have in your backpack?)
Tener años
To give age in Spanish, use the correct conjugation of the verb tener + number + años:
- ¿Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you?)
- Tengo 22 años. (I am 22 years old.)
- Tengo trece años. (I’m 13.)
- ¿Cuántos años tiene él? (How old is he?)
- Tiene ochenta y siete años. (He’s 87.)
- ¿Cuántos años tienen? (How old are they?)
Note: in English you can leave off “years old” and just say “I’m 22,” but in Spanish you must include the word años.
Contributors and Attributions
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Manifestacion #19j Tenerife. Authored by: Jose Mesa. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/liferfe/5850229679. License: CC BY: Attribution
- We don't have WiFI. Talk among yourselves sign Marzola Parrilla Argentina Steakhouse Exterior, Cartagena Columbia. Authored by: Joe Ross. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeross/23791002624. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Gramática: El verbo tener. Authored by: SUNY Oneonta with Lumen Learning. Provided by: SUNY Oneonta. License: CC BY: Attribution