Word
Tengo miedo de reprobar el examen final de matemáticas.
Meaning
I am afraid of failing the final math exam.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Breakdown of Tengo miedo de reprobar el examen final de matemáticas.
yo
I
de
of
tener
to have
la matemática
the math
Questions & Answers about Tengo miedo de reprobar el examen final de matemáticas.
Why is it tengo miedo and not something like estoy miedo or soy miedo?
In Spanish, many feelings that use “to be” in English use “tener” (to have) instead.
Common pattern: tener + noun
- tener miedo = to be afraid (literally “to have fear”)
- tener hambre = to be hungry (to have hunger)
- tener sed = to be thirsty (to have thirst)
- tener frío/calor = to be cold/hot
So:
- Tengo miedo = I am afraid
- Estoy miedo is incorrect, because miedo is a noun, and estar doesn’t usually take a bare noun like that to describe a temporary state.
- Soy miedo is also incorrect; ser is not used for this expression either.
You can use estar with an adjective:
- Estoy asustado / Estoy asustada = I am scared
but when you use miedo, you almost always use tener: tengo miedo.
Why do we say tengo miedo de reprobar and not just tengo miedo reprobar?