Conjugation of tenir

Tenir means “to have, possess, hold,” but its everyday reach is wider than English have. Catalan uses it for age (tenir vint anys), sensations (tenir gana, fred, son), possession, relationships, and many fixed expressions. The infinitive tindre is also standard and is especially characteristic of western and Valencian usage (regional: Valencian / Northwestern).

Its irregularity falls into three memorable families: present tinc, velar tingu- in the past and subjunctive, and shortened future/conditional tindr-. The remaining forms are transparent once those principal parts are known.

The recurring velar pattern is developed in velar-stem verbs, while expressions with tenir expands the idioms introduced here.

Nonfinite forms

As part of a compound tense, tingut is invariable: elles han tingut sort. The agreeing forms occur adjectivally or in constructions where the word behaves as a participle modifying a noun: una casa ben tinguda is structurally different from a perfect. The gerund is tenint, not a velarized tinguent.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Present tinc introduces a velar consonant absent from tens, té, tenim, teniu, and tenen. The accent on third-person té is obligatory and distinguishes it from te, the word for “tea” and an unstressed pronoun spelling. There is no incoative extension: teneixo and tindreixo are not forms of tenir.

The everyday completed past is vaig tenir. The synthetic series tinguí, tingueres... is especially associated with (formal/literary) prose in much Central usage, though it remains spoken in some Valencian and Balearic communities (regional). Future tindré and conditional tindria lose the unstressed vowel visible in tenir; the written stem is always tindr- in the general paradigm.

Indicative: compound tenses

Compound tenses use haver + tingut. Catalan does not use tenir itself as the ordinary perfect auxiliary.

The past anterior is chiefly (formal/literary). Its periphrastic counterpart is vaig haver tingut, vas haver tingut, va haver tingut, vam haver tingut, vau haver tingut, van haver tingut. These anterior forms emphasize immediate completion and are far less frequent than ordinary havia tingut.

Subjunctive: simple and compound

The entire general-standard subjunctive uses the velar stem tingu-. The present places possession or a state inside a desired, doubted, evaluated, or otherwise nonasserted frame: Sé que té temps versus Dubto que tingui temps. English often uses an unchanged “has,” so this mood contrast deserves deliberate practice.

Three further periphrastic rows complete the reference system. They have restricted (regional/formal) distribution; in general conversation, the ordinary perfect or imperfect subjunctive normally supplies the needed past meaning.

Imperative and pronominal behavior

Tingues and tingueu are transparent and widespread affirmative choices; té/ten and teniu are also standard. The alternatives are not interchangeable everywhere: when handing something to someone, té and teniu normally stand without an attached pronoun (Té el llibre), whereas an enclitic calls for forms such as ten-lo, tingues-lo, or tingueu-ne cura. A negative command places pronouns before the verb: no ho tinguis en compte.

Plain tenir readily takes the partitive weak pronoun en when the possessed noun or quantity is understood: Tens germans? En tinc dos. This is not a separate pronominal lexeme. By contrast, tenir-se has distinct uses such as “support/remain in a posture” (tenir-se dret) and tenir-se per “consider oneself.” Do not delete or add se without checking the meaning.

Core meanings and governed expressions

Possession is only the starting point. Catalan says tenir trenta anys for age and uses tenir with bodily or emotional nouns: tenir gana, set, fred, calor, son, por, pressa. English normally translates these with “be,” so soc trenta anys and estic gana are predictable transfer errors. By contrast, estic famolenc is grammatical and means “I am ravenous.”

Frequent collocations include tenir raó “be right,” tenir lloc “take place,” tenir ganes de “feel like,” tenir cura de “take care of,” tenir dret a “be entitled to,” and tenir en compte “take into account.” Their prepositions are part of the expression. Tenir ganes requires de before a noun or infinitive; tenir dret takes a.

(Regional: Balearic / Alguerese) first-person present tenc is standard, and Balearic paradigms may show tengui, tendré, and tengut. (Regional: Valencian) uses present subjunctive tinga, tingues, tinga, tinguem, tingueu, tinguen and allows imperfect tinguera.... The citation tindre is especially characteristic of Valencian and much Northwestern Catalan. These are regional systems, not deficient approximations to tenir.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

The useful principal parts are tinc, tenia, tingué, tindré, tingui, and tingut. Everyday completed narration uses vaig tenir; tinguí is more marked by register or region. Catalan uses tenir where English often uses “be,” especially for age and sensations. Preserve the governed prepositions in ganes de, cura de, and dret a, and distinguish ordinary clitic en tinc dos from the genuinely pronominal meanings of tenir-se.