Tener Conjugation: All Tenses and Examples
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Tener is one of the most useful verbs in Spanish. It's the verb behind your age, your hunger, your plans and half your everyday obligations, and this guide lays out every tense you'll actually use, with a real sentence for each.
In this article I'll walk you through how to conjugate tener (“to have”) across all the major tenses, from the present right through to the subjunctive, with a clear table for each one. Then I'll spend proper time on the part most guides skimp on: the tener idioms, the everyday expressions where this little verb does loads of heavy lifting and where you'll reach for it dozens of times a day.
A quick reassurance before we get going. Tener is irregular, and yes, that puts people off. But it's irregular in friendly, predictable ways, and it's so common that the forms bed themselves in fast simply because you use them constantly. A handful of patterns and a stack of real sentences will do the job, with no cold tables to memorise, and that's exactly what's below.
I learned this the easy way and the hard way. When I was getting my Spanish going, tener was one of the first verbs that made me feel like I could actually say things about my life: how old I am, that I'm hungry, that I have to leave. The moment tengo que irme (“I have to go”) rolled off my tongue without thinking, Spanish started to feel like mine. That's the goal here.
Why Tener Matters So Much
Tener means “to have”, and on the surface that sounds simple enough. You use it for possession: tengo un coche (“I have a car”), tienen una casa en España (“they have a house in Spain”).
But Spanish leans on tener for a whole pile of things English handles with “to be”. You don't are hungry in Spanish, you have hunger. You don't are 30, you have 30 years. Get tener solid and you open up a big chunk of everyday conversation, which is why it earns a dedicated guide.
It's also one of the verbs that trips people up because of its irregularities, so let's meet those head-on.
Tener Conjugation: Present Tense
The present tense (presente) is where you'll meet tener‘s two main irregularities at once:
- The yo form is the odd one out: tengo, not teno.
- It's a stem-changing verb (e to ie) in the tú, él/ella, and ellos/ellas forms: tienes, tiene, tienen.
| Subject | Tener (present) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tengo | I have |
| tú | tienes | you have |
| él/ella/usted | tiene | he/she/you (formal) have |
| nosotros/nosotras | tenemos | we have |
| vosotros/vosotras | tenéis | you all have (Spain) |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tienen | they/you all have |
Notice the shape: the nosotros and vosotros forms stay regular (tenemos, tenéis), while the other four go irregular. People call this the “boot” or “shoe” pattern, because if you box off the four irregular forms in the table they make a boot shape. Once you've spotted it, the present tense more or less reads itself.
Examples:
- Tengo dos hermanos. (I have two brothers.)
- ¿Tienes tiempo? (Do you have time?)
- Mi vecina tiene un perro enorme. (My neighbour has a huge dog.)
Tener Conjugation: Preterite (Simple Past)
The preterite (pretérito indefinido) is for completed actions in the past. Tener is irregular here too, built on the stem tuv-, and it takes a special set of endings with no accent marks:
| Subject | Tener (preterite) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tuve | I had |
| tú | tuviste | you had |
| él/ella/usted | tuvo | he/she/you had |
| nosotros/nosotras | tuvimos | we had |
| vosotros/vosotras | tuvisteis | you all had |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tuvieron | they/you all had |
In the preterite, tener often carries the sense of “got” or “received” rather than a long state of having: tuve una idea is “I had (got) an idea”.
Examples:
- Ayer tuve un día horrible. (Yesterday I had a horrible day.)
- Tuvimos suerte. (We were lucky / we got lucky.)
- No tuvieron tiempo de comer. (They didn't have time to eat.)
Tener Conjugation: Imperfect
The imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is the easy one. Tener is completely regular here, so you just add the standard -er imperfect endings to the stem ten-. Use it for ongoing or repeated past states: how things used to be.
| Subject | Tener (imperfect) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tenía | I had / used to have |
| tú | tenías | you had |
| él/ella/usted | tenía | he/she/you had |
| nosotros/nosotras | teníamos | we had |
| vosotros/vosotras | teníais | you all had |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tenían | they/you all had |
Examples:
- Cuando era niño, tenía un gato. (When I was a child, I had a cat.)
- Teníamos mucho tiempo libre. (We used to have loads of free time.)
Tener Conjugation: Future
The simple future (futuro simple) uses an irregular stem, tendr-, and then the regular future endings, which are the same for every verb in Spanish. Learn the stem and you've cracked it.
| Subject | Tener (future) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tendré | I will have |
| tú | tendrás | you will have |
| él/ella/usted | tendrá | he/she/you will have |
| nosotros/nosotras | tendremos | we will have |
| vosotros/vosotras | tendréis | you all will have |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tendrán | they/you all will have |
Examples:
- Tendrás que esperar. (You'll have to wait.)
- El año que viene tendremos más dinero. (Next year we'll have more money.)
Tener Conjugation: Conditional
The conditional (condicional) uses the very same irregular stem as the future, tendr-, with the conditional endings. So if you know the future, the conditional is nearly free. Use it for “would have”.
| Subject | Tener (conditional) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tendría | I would have |
| tú | tendrías | you would have |
| él/ella/usted | tendría | he/she/you would have |
| nosotros/nosotras | tendríamos | we would have |
| vosotros/vosotras | tendríais | you all would have |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tendrían | they/you all would have |
Examples:
- Con más dinero, tendría una casa más grande. (With more money, I'd have a bigger house.)
- Tendrías que estudiar más. (You should / would have to study more.)
Tener Conjugation: Present Perfect
The present perfect (pretérito perfecto compuesto) is built the easy way: the present tense of haber plus the past participle of tener, which is tenido. The participle never changes, so all you're learning is the haber forms.
| Subject | Tener (present perfect) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | he tenido | I have had |
| tú | has tenido | you have had |
| él/ella/usted | ha tenido | he/she/you have had |
| nosotros/nosotras | hemos tenido | we have had |
| vosotros/vosotras | habéis tenido | you all have had |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | han tenido | they/you all have had |
Examples:
- He tenido un buen día. (I've had a good day.)
- Nunca hemos tenido problemas. (We've never had problems.)
Tener Conjugation: Present Subjunctive
The subjunctive sounds scary, but for tener there's a lovely shortcut: take the yo form of the present (tengo), drop the -o, and you've got the subjunctive stem teng-. Add the opposite-vowel endings and you're done. You'll use it after expressions like espero que (“I hope that”) or es importante que (“it's important that”).
| Subject | Tener (present subjunctive) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tenga | (that) I have |
| tú | tengas | (that) you have |
| él/ella/usted | tenga | (that) he/she/you have |
| nosotros/nosotras | tengamos | (that) we have |
| vosotros/vosotras | tengáis | (that) you all have |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tengan | (that) they/you all have |
Examples:
- Espero que tengas un buen viaje. (I hope you have a good trip.)
- Es importante que tengamos un plan. (It's important that we have a plan.)
Tener Conjugation: Imperfect Subjunctive
The imperfect subjunctive comes straight from the preterite. Take the ellos preterite form (tuvieron), drop the -ron, and add the imperfect-subjunctive endings onto the stem tuvie-. Spanish gives you two interchangeable sets of endings (-ra and -se); the -ra set below is the more common in speech.
| Subject | Tener (imperfect subjunctive) | English |
|---|---|---|
| yo | tuviera | (that) I had |
| tú | tuvieras | (that) you had |
| él/ella/usted | tuviera | (that) he/she/you had |
| nosotros/nosotras | tuviéramos | (that) we had |
| vosotros/vosotras | tuvierais | (that) you all had |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | tuvieran | (that) they/you all had |
Examples:
- Si tuviera más tiempo, viajaría más. (If I had more time, I'd travel more.)
- Ojalá tuviéramos un coche. (I wish we had a car.)
Tener Conjugation: Imperative (Commands)
The imperative is how you tell someone to “have” something or, far more often, how you use the fixed command ten in everyday phrases. The affirmative tú form is the irregular ten, and affirmative vosotros is tened; the rest borrow the subjunctive forms. The negative commands all use the subjunctive.
| Subject | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | ten | no tengas |
| usted | tenga | no tenga |
| nosotros | tengamos | no tengamos |
| vosotros | tened | no tengáis |
| ustedes | tengan | no tengan |
Examples:
- ¡Ten cuidado! (Be careful! Literally “have care”.)
- Ten paciencia. (Be patient.)
- No tengas miedo. (Don't be afraid.)
Tener: Gerund and Past Participle
Two non-finite forms round out the verb, and you'll have already met one of them:
- Gerund (present participle): teniendo (“having”). Use it for ongoing action: teniendo en cuenta… (“taking into account…”), or estoy teniendo problemas (“I'm having problems”).
- Past participle: tenido (“had”). This is the form you slot in after haber for every perfect tense: he tenido, había tenido, habré tenido, and so on.
Both are regular for tener, which is a small mercy after all those irregular stems.
The Best Bit: Tener Idioms You'll Use Every Day
Here's the part that turns tener from a grammar exercise into a verb you genuinely live in. Spanish uses tener + a noun for loads of states and feelings that English builds with “to be”. These aren't obscure: they're some of the most common things you'll say all day. Learn them as whole chunks and you'll sound natural fast.
| Spanish | Literal | Real meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tener hambre | to have hunger | to be hungry |
| tener sed | to have thirst | to be thirsty |
| tener frío | to have cold | to be cold |
| tener calor | to have heat | to be hot |
| tener sueño | to have sleep | to be sleepy |
| tener miedo | to have fear | to be afraid |
| tener prisa | to have haste | to be in a hurry |
| tener razón | to have reason | to be right |
| tener suerte | to have luck | to be lucky |
And here they are doing real work in sentences:
- Tengo hambre. ¿Comemos algo? (I'm hungry. Shall we eat something?)
- ¿Tienes sed? (Are you thirsty?)
- Tengo frío, voy a por una chaqueta. (I'm cold, I'll go and get a jacket.)
- Tengo mucho sueño. (I'm very sleepy.)
- No tengas miedo. (Don't be afraid.)
- Tengo prisa, hablamos luego. (I'm in a hurry, we'll talk later.)
- Tienes razón. (You're right.)
- ¡Qué suerte tienes! (How lucky you are!)
A quick tip on intensity: because these states are nouns, you say “a lot of” them with mucho/mucha, not “very”. So it's tengo mucha hambre (“I'm very hungry”, literally “I have much hunger”), never tengo muy hambre. Match the gender: mucha hambre, mucha sed, mucho frío, mucho sueño.
Tener for Age
This is the single most useful tener expression, and the one beginners get wrong most often. To say your age in Spanish you have years, you don't are them:
- Tengo treinta años. (I'm 30 years old. Literally: “I have 30 years.”)
- ¿Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you? Literally: “How many years do you have?”)
- Mi hija tiene cinco años. (My daughter is five.)
Never say soy treinta for your age. More on that mistake below, because it's worth flagging hard.
Tener ganas de (to feel like)
Tener ganas de + infinitive means “to feel like” or “to fancy” doing something. It's everywhere in casual speech:
- Tengo ganas de viajar. (I feel like travelling.)
- No tengo ganas de cocinar hoy. (I don't feel like cooking today.)
- ¿Tienes ganas de salir? (Do you fancy going out?)
Tener que (to have to)
This is tener‘s power move. Tener que + infinitive expresses obligation, the equivalent of “have to” or “must”. You'll use it constantly:
- Tengo que trabajar. (I have to work.)
- Tienes que ver esta película. (You have to see this film.)
- Tuvimos que esperar dos horas. (We had to wait two hours.)
- Tendrás que decidir pronto. (You'll have to decide soon.)
Notice how it slots into every tense you learned above: tengo que, tuve que, tendré que, tendría que. One pattern, endless mileage.
Tener lugar (to take place)
A slightly more formal one, handy for events: tener lugar means “to take place” or “to be held”.
- La reunión tiene lugar el lunes. (The meeting takes place on Monday.)
- El concierto tuvo lugar en Madrid. (The concert took place in Madrid.)
Common Mistakes With Tener
A few traps catch nearly every learner. Knowing them in advance saves you loads of blushing:
- Age: use tener, not ser. It's tengo treinta años, never soy treinta años. In Spanish you have your years, you don't equal them. This one's worth drilling until it's automatic.
- Hunger, cold, fear and the rest: use tener, not estar. It's tengo hambre, not estoy hambre or soy hambriento. These feelings are something you have, not something you are.
- Intensity is mucho, not muy. Because hambre, frío and sueño are nouns, you say tengo mucha hambre (“very hungry”), not tengo muy hambre. Save muy for adjectives.
- Don't forget the irregular yo. It's tengo, not teno. And the stem change only hits the boot forms: tienes, tiene, tienen, but regular tenemos and tenéis.
- Mind tener versus haber. Both can translate as “have”, but haber is the helper verb for perfect tenses (he comido, “I have eaten”) while tener is the one for actual possession (tengo un libro, “I have a book”). They aren't interchangeable.
Where to Go From Here
Tener pairs beautifully with the other two verbs Spanish leans on hardest. Since so many tener idioms are exactly where English would use “to be”, it's well worth getting clear on ser vs estar, the two Spanish verbs for “to be”, so you know when Spanish reaches for tener instead. From there, the verb ir (“to go”) is another irregular workhorse worth having down cold.
To build the vocabulary that fills out all these sentences, my list of the most common Spanish words is a solid next stop, and if you want to weave tener into real conversation you'll need time expressions in Spanish for saying when you have to be somewhere.
The real test, though, is using tener out loud with another person. That's the whole heart of how I learn languages: not drilling tables in a corner, but speaking from day one. If you'd like a structured way to go from your first tengo to holding a real conversation, that's exactly what we build inside the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp, a community and a method where I coach you through speaking Spanish with real people, fast.
For now, you've got every tense of tener in front of you and a stack of expressions you'll genuinely reach for. Go and put them to work: ¡ten paciencia y a hablar!
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