Hey, parces! This is our very first lesson on this blog, I would like you to learn today the uses of verb “tener” when in English we use verb “to be”. That’s to say we actually change the verb and we add a noun instead of an adjective. If we say: I’m sleepy, in Spanish we will say: Tengo sueño (I have sleep). We won’t ever say: estoy somnoliento, although this expression exists, it’s not commonly used. Here I will show you some common uses:

USES: 
1) To express -One’s Age In Spanish
the verb tener is used to express a person’s age and NOT the verb to be.
¿Cuántos años tienes? How old are you? 

To answer follow this formula: (tener)+ (number)+ (años) 
Tengo catorce años. I am 14 years old. 

¿Cuántos años tiene tu madre? How old is your mother? 
Ella tiene 40 años. 

2) Spanish Expressions That Use Tener 
To express certain idiomatic expressions in Spanish, use the verb tener and NOT the verb to be. Remember in English we say that we are hungry or we are hot, using a form of “to Be”. 

In Spanish, if you used a form of Ser with one of these descriptions, you would be saying something entirely different.  For example, to say “I am hot”, we use Tener [not Ser ]: Tengo calor [literally, “I have heat”]. Normally, we can state that TENER + SENSATIONS is equivalent in English as TO BE + ADJECTIVE ( related to sensations).

3) Examples with the verb tener:

Tener cuidado -to be careful.
Tengo cuidado cuando cruzo la calle.
I’m careful when I go across the street. 

Tener éxito -to be successful.
Ella tiene éxito y es muy reconocida. 
She is very successful and she is well-known. 

Tener ganas de – to feel like…to have the desire to… 
Él tiene ganas de comer un helado. 
He feels like eating an ice cream. 

Tener suerte – to be lucky.
Tenemos suerte cuando buscamos en Google. 
We are lucky when we look for something in Google.

Tener miedo – to be afraid.
Anita y María le tienen miedo a los sapos. 
Anita and Maria are afraid of toads.


Tener sueño – to be sleepy.
Siempre  tienen sueño en las lecciones de la mañana. 
They are always sleepy in morning lessons.

Tener prisa -to be in a hurry.
Tania nunca tiene prisa para ir al trabajo.
Tania is never in a hurry to go to work. 

Tener razón: to be right (correct).
Mi padre a veces tiene la razón.

Sometimes my father is right. 

No tener razón – to be wrong.
Mi padre aveces no tiene la razón.
Sometimes my father is not right. 

Tener años – to be the age of..
La abuela de Susan tiene muchos años.
Susan’s grandma is many years old. 

Tener sed- to be thirsty.
Los atletas tienen sed al final de su maratón.
Athletes are thirsty at the end of their marathon.

Tener hambre- to be hungry.

Mis gatos tienen mucha hambre; son glotones.
My cats are hungry; they are gluttonous.

Tener frio- to be cold.
Siempre tengo frío. Soy friolento.
I’m always cold. I’m sensitive to cold.

Tener calor-to be hot.

En la zona de la costa, la gente siempre tiene calor.
In the coast area, people are always hot.

Escrito por César Cristancho, profesor de Parce Spanish School.