Present Indicative of Ter | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Ter means "to have," and it is one of the verbs you'll reach for most often in Brazilian Portuguese. Beyond possession, it does two jobs that surprise English speakers: it expresses age (you "have" years, you don't "are" them), and in everyday Brazilian speech it is the normal way to say "there is / there are." Master ter and a huge chunk of daily conversation opens up.

Conjugation

Ter is irregular. Memorize it as a set — and pay very close attention to the accents.

Subject	Conjugation
eu	tenho
tu (regional)	tens
você / ele / ela	tem
nós	temos
vocês / eles / elas	têm

Eu tenho dois irmãos mais novos.

I have two younger brothers.

Nós temos uma reunião às dez.

We have a meeting at ten.

The tem / têm accent — do not skip this

This is the trap that catches every English speaker, because the two forms sound nearly identical and we have no reason to expect them to be spelled differently. tem (no accent) is the singular — você/ele/ela tem. têm (with a circumflex) is the plural — vocês/eles/elas têm. The circumflex is the only thing distinguishing them in writing.

Ela tem três filhos.

She has three children.

Eles têm três filhos.

They have three children.

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The rule has logic behind it: the circumflex marks a (historically) longer, doubled vowel in the plural. In careful speech, têm is pronounced with a slight nasal diphthong ("tãy-ẽy"), a touch longer than singular tem. But in everyday Brazilian speech the two are essentially homophones — which is exactly why the written accent matters so much. Drop it and "eles tem" reads as a grammatical error. Always write têm for a plural subject.

The same singular/plural circumflex pattern shows up in two related verbs: vem / vêm (come) and mantém / mantêm (maintain). For a deep dive on this specific accent, see tem vs têm.

Use 1: possession

The bread-and-butter use — owning, holding, possessing.

Eu tenho um carro, mas quase não uso.

I have a car, but I hardly use it.

Você tem troco pra vinte?

Do you have change for a twenty?

A gente tem tempo de sobra, relaxa.

We have plenty of time, relax.

Use 2: age — you HAVE years

Portuguese expresses age with ter, not ser. You have a certain number of years. This is a direct transfer trap for English speakers, who say "I am thirty."

Eu tenho trinta anos.

I'm thirty (years old).

Quantos anos você tem?

How old are you?

Meu filho tem cinco anos e já lê sozinho.

My son is five and already reads on his own.

Saying "eu sou trinta anos" is one of the most recognizable English-speaker errors in Portuguese. The word anos ("years") is mandatory too — you don't just say "tenho trinta." (Romance learners take note: this matches Spanish tener and French avoir, but contradicts English and German.)

Use 3: the Brazilian "there is / there are"

Here is the most distinctively Brazilian use of ter. To say "there is" or "there are," everyday Brazilian Portuguese uses tem — the same singular form regardless of whether what follows is singular or plural. It functions impersonally, like English "there is/are," and it completely dominates the spoken language.

Tem gente na rua, deve ter acontecido alguma coisa.

There are people in the street; something must have happened.

Tem um restaurante ótimo aqui perto.

There's a great restaurant nearby.

Não tem leite na geladeira.

There's no milk in the fridge.

Notice that even with a plural noun (gente, pessoas), the verb stays tem — it doesn't become têm, because here it's impersonal, not agreeing with a subject. Tem pessoas esperando ("there are people waiting"), never "têm pessoas."

The formal and Continental-Portuguese equivalent is há (from the verb haver): há pessoas na rua. In Brazil, há is correct and used in writing, news, and formal speech, but in conversation it sounds bookish — Brazilians overwhelmingly say tem.

Há vagas disponíveis para o cargo.

There are positions available for the role. (formal)

Tem vaga aí pra mais um?

Is there room there for one more? (informal)

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Rule of thumb: speak tem, write há when you want to be formal. Both mean "there is/are." Using há in casual chat isn't wrong, just stiff; using tem in an academic essay is too informal. For the full comparison of ter, haver, and existential tem, see ter vs haver overview and existential tem.

Use 4: obligation with ter que / ter de

A bonus that comes nearly for free: ter que (or ter de) plus an infinitive expresses obligation — "to have to" do something. It's the everyday way Brazilians say "I must" or "I've got to."

Eu tenho que acordar cedo amanhã.

I have to get up early tomorrow.

A gente tem que sair agora, senão a gente perde o ônibus.

We have to leave now, or we'll miss the bus.

In speech, ter que is far more common than the slightly more formal ter de; both are correct. This mirrors English "have to" almost exactly, which makes it one of the easiest obligation structures to pick up. For the modal chain and comparisons with dever and precisar, see ter que / dever.

Common mistakes

❌ Eu sou trinta anos.

Incorrect — age uses ter, not ser: you 'have' years.

✅ Eu tenho trinta anos.

I'm thirty years old.

❌ Eles tem dois filhos.

Incorrect — plural subject requires the circumflex: têm.

✅ Eles têm dois filhos.

They have two children.

❌ Têm muita gente na festa.

Incorrect — existential 'tem' is impersonal and stays singular, with no accent.

✅ Tem muita gente na festa.

There are a lot of people at the party.

❌ Quantos anos você é?

Incorrect — ask age with ter: 'quantos anos você tem?'

✅ Quantos anos você tem?

How old are you?

❌ Tem trinta. (meaning 'I'm thirty')

Incorrect — for age you must include 'anos': tenho trinta anos.

✅ Tenho trinta anos.

I'm thirty years old.

Key takeaways

Ter = tenho, tens, tem, temos, têm — irregular; watch the tem / têm accent (singular vs plural).
Use it for possession and for age (tenho trinta anos, never sou).
Existential tem is the everyday "there is / there are," stays singular and accentless even before plurals, and replaces formal há in conversation.

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