Ter for Possession | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

The verb ter is, hands down, the single most useful verb in European Portuguese. It is how you say you own something, how you say you have a brother, how you say you are thirty years old, and how you say you are hungry, thirsty, cold, hot, in a hurry, or right about something. English splits all of these jobs between "have" and "be" — Portuguese uses ter for nearly all of them. This page is the full map of ter as a main verb of possession and its extended family of idiomatic uses.

The present paradigm

Ter is irregular in the present indicative. Drill this table until the forms are reflexive — you will use them in every conversation you have.

Person	Form	English
eu	tenho	I have
tu	tens	you have (informal)
ele / ela / você	tem	he / she has; you have (formal)
nós	temos	we have
(vós)	(tendes)	(you all have — archaic)
eles / elas / vocês	têm	they have; you all have

The vós form tendes survives only in liturgy, older literature, and a few rural dialects. Modern EP uses vocês with the third-person plural form têm.

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The eu form tenho has a nasal -nho pronounced like the "ny" in "canyon." From tens onward, the stem is plain ten-, which is easier. The one written trap is the accent on têm — see below.

The accent trap: tem vs têm

In speech, tem (he/she has) and têm (they have) sound identical. In writing, the plural carries a circumflex: têm. This is one of the single most common spelling errors in Portuguese, tested obsessively in school and in exams.

Singular (no accent)	Plural (circumflex)
Ele tem um irmão.	Eles têm um irmão.
Ela tem razão.	Elas têm razão.
Você tem fome?	Vocês têm fome?

The rule is absolute: one subject = tem, more than one = têm. The same circumflex-on-the-plural pattern shows up on vir (vem / vêm) and on ter's compounds (contém / contêm, obtém / obtêm), so it is worth internalizing the logic once.

O meu pai tem um escritório em Lisboa; os meus tios têm uma loja no Porto.

My father has an office in Lisbon; my uncles have a shop in Porto.

Basic ownership

The most direct use of ter is to say what someone owns or possesses. This works exactly as English "have" does — no article shenanigans, no reflexive pronouns, just subject + ter + object.

Tenho um carro novo, mas é pequeno demais para a família toda.

I have a new car, but it's too small for the whole family.

A minha avó tem uma casa perto da praia, em Cascais.

My grandmother has a house near the beach, in Cascais.

Eles têm três cães e um gato — a casa é uma confusão.

They have three dogs and a cat — their house is chaos.

Portuguese (unlike French or Italian) does not drop articles in possession contexts. Tenho carro is understood in context (it means "I own a car, I'm a driver") but the default is tenho um carro. The bare-noun version is a stylistic choice, not the norm.

Family and relationships

Talking about family uses ter plus a kinship noun. The structure is identical to English: tenho uma irmã = "I have a sister."

Tenho duas irmãs e um irmão mais novo.

I have two sisters and one younger brother.

Tens filhos?

Do you have kids?

A minha colega tem três netos, mas ainda trabalha a tempo inteiro.

My colleague has three grandchildren, but she still works full-time.

A common variation uses ser for stating a relationship (ela é minha irmã, "she is my sister"), but for saying that the relationship exists at all, you use ter.

Physical traits

Physical appearance — eye colour, hair colour, height details, distinguishing features — uses ter plus a noun. English has a mix here (she has blue eyes, she is tall) but Portuguese keeps the pattern: if the trait is expressed with a noun, use ter.

Ele tem olhos azuis e cabelo castanho-escuro.

He has blue eyes and dark brown hair.

Ela tem uma cicatriz na testa, de quando caiu da bicicleta em miúda.

She has a scar on her forehead, from when she fell off her bike as a kid.

O meu irmão tem barba desde os dezoito anos.

My brother has had a beard since he was eighteen.

For traits expressed with an adjective, Portuguese switches to ser (ele é alto, "he is tall") — see the page on ser vs estar vs ficar for the full picture.

Body parts and their conditions

Ter also expresses the state of a body part, especially when something is wrong with it, injured, or temporarily marked. English usually says "she has a broken tooth" or "I have a headache" — Portuguese does the same.

A menina tem um dente partido — caiu no recreio da escola.

The girl has a broken tooth — she fell at school recess.

Tenho as mãos geladas, consegues emprestar-me umas luvas?

My hands are freezing, can you lend me some gloves?

Ele tem o braço ao peito desde a semana passada.

He's had his arm in a sling since last week.

Note the definite article — as mãos, o braço — not a possessive. Portuguese, like other Romance languages, uses the definite article with body parts when the owner is clear from context. Saying tenho as minhas mãos geladas is technically grammatical but sounds redundant.

Abstract "possession" — the sensation family

Here is where Portuguese diverges dramatically from English. A whole family of physical and emotional sensations are expressed with ter + noun, while English uses to be + adjective.

Portuguese	Literal meaning	English equivalent
Tenho fome.	I have hunger.	I'm hungry.
Tenho sede.	I have thirst.	I'm thirsty.
Tenho frio.	I have cold.	I'm cold.
Tenho calor.	I have heat.	I'm hot.
Tenho sono.	I have sleep.	I'm sleepy.
Tenho medo.	I have fear.	I'm afraid.
Tenho pressa.	I have hurry.	I'm in a hurry.
Tenho vergonha.	I have shame.	I'm embarrassed / ashamed.
Tenho ciúmes.	I have jealousies.	I'm jealous.
Tenho razão.	I have reason.	I'm right.
Tenho saudades.	I have longings.	I miss (something / someone).

The logic runs on a different metaphor from English. In English, you are the state (you are hungry, you are cold). In Portuguese, you have the state, as if it were a thing you carry. The noun is treated as a kind of possession — a bundle of hunger, a unit of fear, a quantity of rightness.

Tenho muita fome, o jantar está quase pronto?

I'm really hungry — is dinner almost ready?

Tens frio? Queres que feche a janela?

Are you cold? Want me to close the window?

Tenho saudades de Lisboa — não vou lá há mais de um ano.

I miss Lisbon — I haven't been there for over a year.

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Because these are nouns, you intensify them with muito / muita (much), not with muito as an adverb: tenho muita fome (I'm very hungry), not tenho muito fome. Match the gender: fome is feminine, so muita fome; frio is masculine, so muito frio.

Age

Portuguese uses ter — not ser — to express age. This is the single most common error for English speakers, who are tempted to reach for the "be" equivalent.

Tenho trinta anos; tu, quantos tens?

I'm thirty; how old are you?

A minha filha tem seis anos e já lê sozinha.

My daughter is six and she already reads on her own.

Quantos anos tem a sua mãe?

How old is your mother? (formal)

The construction is literally "I have thirty years," and the word anos is obligatory. Saying Tenho trinta on its own does not mean "I'm thirty" — it would sound incomplete, like someone answering "How much sugar do you want?" with just "Thirty." The full phrase tenho trinta anos is the unit.

For Spanish speakers: this pattern is identical to Spanish tener (tengo treinta años), so no new learning is needed. For French speakers: French also uses avoir (j'ai trente ans), same pattern. For English speakers: this is the one piece of the pattern you must actively override.

Time — "have time"

The expression ter tempo ("have time") works almost exactly like English.

Tens tempo para um café?

Do you have time for a coffee?

Não tenho tempo agora, depois ligo-te.

I don't have time now, I'll call you later.

Ele tem tempo a mais e projectos a menos.

He has too much time and too few projects.

A closely related expression is ter tempo de / para + infinitive ("have time to do X"): não tenho tempo de ir ao ginásio ("I don't have time to go to the gym"). The preposition de is the more standard choice; para is also acceptable.

Comparison with Spanish and English

If you already know Spanish, ter for possession maps directly onto tener. The uses are essentially identical — ownership, family, physical traits, age, and the sensation family (tengo hambre / tenho fome, tengo frío / tenho frio, tengo razón / tenho razão, tengo treinta años / tenho trinta anos). If you find yourself wanting to use tener, use ter — the instinct is correct.

If you come from English, the mapping is partial. Possession and family are direct translations. The real work is retraining yourself to say have for the sensation family, where English uses be:

English	Portuguese
I am hungry.	Tenho fome. (not Estou fome)
I am thirty.	Tenho trinta anos. (not Sou trinta)
I am right.	Tenho razão. (not Sou certo)
I am in a hurry.	Tenho pressa. (Estou com pressa also works, with a "right now" nuance — see below)

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A useful memory aid: in Portuguese, these sensations are nouns, not adjectives. You carry hunger the way you carry a bag. Once the metaphor clicks, all of fome, sede, frio, calor, sono, medo, pressa, vergonha, razão fall into place under the same pattern.

A note on estar com (Brazilian Portuguese)

Brazilian Portuguese often uses estar com + noun for these sensations: estou com fome, estou com frio, estou com sono. In European Portuguese, estar com is used too, but it carries a nuance of temporary state ("I'm currently with / having") as opposed to a more general claim.

Estou com fome — comi pouco ao almoço.

I'm hungry (right now) — I didn't eat much at lunch. (EP — acceptable but slightly marked)

Tenho fome.

I'm hungry. (EP default — the neutral choice)

For A1 / A2, stick with ter + noun. It is the unmarked, default, always-correct choice in EP. Once your ear is tuned, you can start noticing where estar com adds a flavor of "right now at this moment."

Common Mistakes

❌ Sou trinta anos.

Incorrect — age uses ter, not ser. Never 'I am X years' in Portuguese.

✅ Tenho trinta anos.

I am thirty years old.

❌ Eu estou fome.

Incorrect — estar fome never works. Sensations use ter + noun.

✅ Tenho fome.

I'm hungry.

❌ Eles tem três filhos.

Incorrect — plural subject (eles) requires têm with a circumflex.

✅ Eles têm três filhos.

They have three children.

❌ Tenho muito fome.

Incorrect agreement — fome is feminine, so muita, not muito.

✅ Tenho muita fome.

I'm very hungry.

❌ Tenho trinta.

Incomplete — age always requires anos.