Breakdown of Tengo que renovar mi licencia de conducir este mes, antes de viajar.
Questions & Answers about Tengo que renovar mi licencia de conducir este mes, antes de viajar.
Tengo que + infinitive is a very common way to express obligation: I have to / I need to + verb.
- Tengo = I have (from tener)
- que introduces what you have to do
- renovar stays in the infinitive because it follows tengo que
So Tengo que renovar... literally corresponds to I have to renew....
Yes, Debo renovar... is correct. The difference is mostly tone:
- Tengo que... = very common, neutral, everyday have to
- Debo... = can sound a bit more formal or “duty/should”-like, though it’s still normal in conversation
In Latin America, Tengo que is often the most natural choice for daily speech.
Because after tener que, Spanish uses an infinitive (the base verb form).
- Correct: Tengo que renovar...
- Incorrect: Tengo que renuevo...
You only conjugate the first verb (tener) to match the subject; the second verb stays in the infinitive.
Renovar means to renew—extend the validity of something that already exists (a license, passport, contract).
Reemplazar means to replace—swap it out because it’s lost, damaged, or you need a new one.
So for an expiring driver’s license, renovar is the standard verb.
Licencia de conducir is widely understood across Latin America and very common. Regional alternatives exist:
- licencia de manejo (common in Mexico and some other places)
- brevete (Peru)
- registro (de conducir) (Argentina; usage varies) Even if people say something else locally, licencia de conducir will be understood almost everywhere.
Spanish often uses de + infinitive to label what something is “for” or what type it is:
- licencia de conducir = a driving license (a license for driving)
You can sometimes see para in other contexts, but licencia de conducir is the fixed, standard phrasing.
Both work:
- mi licencia emphasizes it’s yours and sounds very natural in personal context.
- la licencia can also be fine if it’s obvious you mean yours (context-dependent).
In many everyday sentences, Spanish uses the article (la) more than English would, but mi is perfectly normal here.
In Spanish, time expressions often appear without a preposition:
- este mes = this month
- esta semana = this week
- este año = this year
You can say en este mes, but it’s less common and usually feels more specific/emphatic (like “within this month”).
Yes, it’s fairly flexible:
- Tengo que renovar mi licencia de conducir este mes, antes de viajar. (original)
- Este mes tengo que renovar mi licencia de conducir, antes de viajar. (time emphasized)
- Tengo que renovar este mes mi licencia de conducir... (possible, but can sound a bit more formal/marked)
The original word order is the most natural and neutral.
Both are correct, but they mean slightly different things grammatically:
- antes de + infinitive (antes de viajar) is used when the action is expressed generally (or when the subject is understood as the same person): before traveling.
- antes de que + subjunctive (antes de que viaje) is used with a finite verb and often highlights the event more explicitly: before I travel / before (someone) travels.
In your sentence, antes de viajar is the simplest and most common.
It’s optional but very common. The comma helps separate the main statement from the extra timing detail:
- Main idea: Tengo que renovar mi licencia de conducir este mes
- Added condition/time: antes de viajar
Without the comma, it’s still correct: ...este mes antes de viajar. The comma just improves readability.
A practical pronunciation guide:
- renovar: reh-noh-BAR (stress on -var)
- licencia: lee-SEN-syah
- conducir: kon-doo-SEER (stress on -cir)
Also note: de is usually a soft deh, and r in renovar is a light tap (not the strong rolled rr).