Expresiones con 'tener' | Spanish (Spain) Grammar

The single biggest grammar rewrite for English speakers learning Spanish is that states of body and mind are expressed as possessions, not as states-of-being. You do not say "I am hungry" in Spanish — you say "I have hunger." You do not say "she is thirty years old" — you say "she has thirty years." You do not say "we are in a hurry" — you say "we have hurry." The verb is tener ("to have"), and it carries a whole family of expressions that English forces through to be.

This is not a minor quirk. It is the single most reliable A1 marker of a non-native speaker — and getting it right is the single biggest fluency upgrade you can make in your first month of Spanish. Once you internalise that hambre, sed, frío, miedo, prisa, suerte are nouns that you possess, the whole family clicks at once.

The core logic: states as nouns

In English, hunger and cold and fear are nouns, but the everyday way to express them is with an adjective and the copula: I'm hungry, I'm cold, I'm afraid. Spanish takes a different route: it keeps these as nouns and pairs them with the verb of possession.

Spanish	Literal	English meaning
Tengo hambre.	"I have hunger."	I'm hungry.
Tienes sed.	"You have thirst."	You're thirsty.
Tiene frío.	"He/she has cold."	He/she is cold.
Tenemos prisa.	"We have hurry."	We're in a hurry.
Tienen miedo.	"They have fear."	They're afraid.

The thing on the right of tener is a bare noun — no article. Tengo hambre, not tengo una hambre or tengo la hambre. The bare noun signals that you have hunger as a state, not as a discrete object.

Tengo hambre. ¿Vamos a comer algo?

I'm hungry. Shall we go get something to eat? (informal) — the most common Spanish sentence about food; learn it on day one.

Mi hija tiene sueño, voy a acostarla.

My daughter is sleepy, I'm going to put her to bed. — sueño is the noun 'sleepiness'; the verb estar dormido means a different thing.

💡

Memorise the family as a unit. Tener hambre, sed, sueño, frío, calor, miedo, prisa, razón, suerte, vergüenza, celos — the whole list at once. Once you have the pattern in your bones, you will produce it automatically and stop reaching for estar or ser.

The full inventory

Expression	Meaning
tener hambre	to be hungry
tener sed	to be thirsty
tener sueño	to be sleepy
tener frío	to be cold (a person feeling cold)
tener calor	to be hot (a person feeling hot)
tener miedo (de / a)	to be afraid (of)
tener prisa	to be in a hurry
tener razón	to be right (correct)
tener suerte	to be lucky
tener vergüenza	to be ashamed / embarrassed
tener celos (de)	to be jealous (of)
tener envidia (de)	to envy / be envious
tener paciencia	to be patient
tener cuidado	to be careful
tener éxito	to be successful
tener confianza (en)	to have confidence (in)
tener ilusión (por)	to be excited (about) — peninsular

Ten cuidado al cruzar, que vienen muchos coches.

Be careful when you cross, lots of cars are coming. — ten is the tú imperative of tener; cuidado is the noun 'care'.

Tienes razón, no lo había pensado así.

You're right, I hadn't thought of it that way. (informal) — tener razón is the peninsular standard for 'to be correct'; estar correcto exists but is much rarer.

¡Qué suerte tienes! Te ha tocado el bueno.

You're so lucky! You got the good one. (informal) — qué suerte tienes is more idiomatic than 'qué afortunado eres'.

No tengo ningún miedo a las arañas, pero las cucarachas me dan asco.

I'm not at all afraid of spiders, but cockroaches gross me out. — tener miedo a / de + noun is the standard construction.

The intensifier mucho/-a, not muy

Because these are nouns, you intensify them with mucho/-a, not muy. This is the single most common English-speaker error in the entire tener family.

Noun	Intensifier	Example
hambre (fem.)	mucha	Tengo mucha hambre.
sed (fem.)	mucha	Tienes mucha sed.
frío / calor (masc.)	mucho	Tiene mucho frío.
miedo (masc.)	mucho	Tienen mucho miedo.
prisa (fem.)	mucha	Tenemos mucha prisa.
razón (fem.)	toda la / mucha	Tienes toda la razón.
suerte (fem.)	mucha	Has tenido mucha suerte.

Tengo muchísima hambre, llevo sin comer desde el desayuno.

I'm incredibly hungry, I haven't eaten since breakfast. — muchísima is the emphatic; agreement with the feminine noun hambre is required.

Tienes toda la razón del mundo.

You're absolutely right. (informal) — toda la razón del mundo is a fixed peninsular intensifier.

💡

The agreement rule: hambre, sed, prisa, razón, suerte, paciencia, vergüenza are feminine (→ mucha). Frío, calor, sueño, miedo, cuidado, éxito are masculine (→ mucho). The la hambre / un hambre alternation you may see in older texts is the a-tónica rule — for our purposes, just remember it's a feminine noun.

Age: tener X años

Spanish expresses age the same way as the rest of the family — as a possession. You have years; you do not be them.

—¿Cuántos años tienes? —Tengo treinta y dos.

—How old are you? —I'm thirty-two. (informal) — the obligatory peninsular age exchange; never use ser.

Mi abuelo tiene noventa y un años y todavía conduce.

My grandfather is ninety-one and still drives. — the year-old expression: cardinal + años.

Cumplo cuarenta el viernes que viene.

I'm turning forty next Friday. — cumplir años is the verb for 'to have a birthday'.

The question ¿Cuántos años tienes? sounds direct in English but is the entirely normal peninsular way to ask. There is no equivalent of "how old are you" — the literal version is "how many years do you have."

Tener que + infinitive: obligation

The tener que + infinitive construction is the everyday peninsular way to say "must, have to, need to." It is more colloquial than deber and more personal than the impersonal hay que.

Construction	Force	Use
tener que + inf.	Personal obligation	The everyday "I have to / I must"
deber + inf.	Moral / external obligation	"I should / I ought to"; slightly more formal
hay que + inf.	Impersonal obligation	"One has to" — general rule, no specific subject

Tengo que irme, que llego tarde al curro.

I have to go, I'm running late for work. (informal) — curro is the peninsular slang for 'job'.

Tienes que probar las croquetas de mi madre, son las mejores del barrio.

You have to try my mum's croquettes, they're the best in the neighbourhood. — the recommend-strongly use of tener que; peninsular foodie standard.

¿Tenemos que ir al cumpleaños de tu primo? Es que estoy reventado.

Do we have to go to your cousin's birthday? I'm exhausted. (informal) — reventado is peninsular slang for 'wiped out'.

See tener que vs haber que vs deber for the full distinctions.

Tener ganas de + infinitive: wanting / feeling like

This is a peninsular favourite that has no clean English equivalent. Tener ganas de X literally means "to have desires of X" and translates as "to feel like / to be looking forward to / to want to."

Tengo muchas ganas de verte el sábado.

I really want to see you on Saturday / I'm really looking forward to seeing you Saturday. — anticipation rather than urgency; warmer than 'quiero verte'.

No tengo ganas de cocinar, ¿pedimos algo?

I don't feel like cooking, shall we order something? (informal) — the everyday peninsular 'I don't feel like'.

Tengo ganas de un café como nunca.

I want a coffee like never before. (informal) — tener ganas de + noun also works.

The negated form no tener ganas de is just as common as the positive: it is the everyday way to say "I don't feel like."

💡

The difference between quiero ir and tengo ganas de ir is real. Quiero is plain wanting; tengo ganas is anticipating, looking forward to, in the mood for. Spaniards use tengo ganas de constantly where English speakers default to I want. Adopt it.

Tener as the verb of state — beyond states

A few more tener constructions worth knowing at A1/A2:

Expression	Meaning
tener lugar	to take place (event)
tener en cuenta	to take into account
tener pinta de	to look like / seem (peninsular)
tener fama de	to be known for / have a reputation for
tener cara (de X)	to have the nerve (peninsular)
tener manía a	to have it in for / pick on
tener mala leche	to be bad-tempered (peninsular, slightly crude)
tener (X) años	to be (X) years old

Esto tiene muy buena pinta. ¿Cómo lo has hecho?

This looks really good. How did you make it? (informal) — peninsular foodie compliment; tener buena pinta is everywhere.

Tiene mucha cara, ¿eh? Se ha colado en la cola sin pedir permiso.

He's got some nerve, eh? He cut into the queue without asking. (informal) — tener cara is a peninsular hallmark; tener mucha cara = 'cheeky'.

La reunión tiene lugar el lunes a las diez en la sala principal.

The meeting takes place on Monday at ten in the main room. (formal) — tener lugar is the formal verb for 'to occur'.

Saying I'm not hungry and other negations

To negate any of these states, simply put no before the verb. Note that the bare noun stays bare — no article appears.

No tengo hambre, gracias. Acabo de comer.

I'm not hungry, thanks. I just ate. — the standard polite refusal of food.

No tengo prisa, podemos tomar el café tranquilamente.

I'm not in a hurry, we can have the coffee leisurely. — common reassurance.

If you want to add emphasis, the negative intensifier is ningún/ninguna: no tengo ningún miedo, no tengo ninguna prisa.

No tengo ninguna prisa, de verdad.

I'm honestly not in any hurry. (informal) — adds force to the negative without sounding defensive.

Common Mistakes

❌ Estoy hambre.

Transfer error from English 'I am hungry'. Spanish expresses hunger as a possession, not a state of being.

✅ Tengo hambre.

I'm hungry. — the foundational A1 pattern.

❌ Soy treinta años.

Age in Spanish uses tener, not ser. Years are something you have.

✅ Tengo treinta años.

I'm thirty years old. — tener + cardinal + años.

❌ Tengo muy hambre.

Hambre is a noun; intensify with mucha (feminine), not muy.

✅ Tengo mucha hambre.

I'm very hungry. — mucha agrees with the feminine noun.

❌ Tengo mucho hambre.

Hambre is feminine despite starting with stressed 'a' — agreement is mucha, not mucho.

✅ Tengo mucha hambre.

I'm very hungry. — feminine agreement.

❌ Tengo una hambre enorme.

With tener + emotion/state noun, no article. The bare noun is part of the construction.

✅ Tengo muchísima hambre.

I'm incredibly hungry. — bare noun, intensified by muchísima.

❌ Yo soy razón.

To be right uses tener, not ser. The English copula doesn't apply.

✅ Tengo razón. / Tienes razón.

I'm right. / You're right. — tener razón is the only correct verb here.

❌ Tengo que de ir.

Tener que + infinitive — no preposition de.

✅ Tengo que ir.

I have to go. — tener que + bare infinitive, never tener que de.

Key Takeaways

Spanish treats hunger, thirst, cold, fear, hurry, age, and luck as possessions, not states-of-being. The verb is tener, not ser or estar.
The core list: tener hambre, sed, sueño, frío, calor, miedo, prisa, razón, suerte, vergüenza, celos, paciencia, cuidado, éxito — memorise as a family.
Intensify with mucho/-a (agreeing with the noun's gender), never muy. Hambre, sed, prisa, razón, suerte are feminine; frío, calor, sueño, miedo are masculine.
Age uses tener + cardinal + años: Tengo treinta y dos años. Never soy treinta y dos.
Tener que + infinitive is the everyday obligation: tengo que irme. No de — never tener que de.
Tener ganas de + infinitive is the peninsular "to feel like / look forward to," distinct from querer (plain wanting). Use it constantly.
Peninsular collocations to add to your repertoire: tener pinta de, tener cara, tener buena pinta, tener mala leche.
The bare-noun pattern (tengo hambre, not tengo una hambre) is part of the construction — keep the noun bare.

Now practice Spanish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Spanish→