Breakdown of Tengo la nariz fría y respiro por la boca.
Questions & Answers about Tengo la nariz fría y respiro por la boca.
Two main differences:
Possession with body parts
- Spanish normally uses the definite article (la nariz) instead of mi nariz when it’s clear whose body part it is.
- The possessor is shown by the person of the verb (tengo = “I have”), so la nariz is understood as my nose.
Structure with physical states
- Spanish often uses tener + noun/adjective for physical conditions:
- Tengo calor = I’m hot
- Tengo frío = I’m cold
- Tengo la nariz fría fits this pattern: literally “I have the nose cold,” understood as “my nose is cold.”
- Spanish often uses tener + noun/adjective for physical conditions:
You can say mi nariz está fría, but it sounds more like you’re describing your nose as an object that is cold to the touch, rather than describing how you’re feeling. In everyday speech, tengo la nariz fría sounds more natural.
It’s not wrong, just less idiomatic in many contexts.
Tengo la nariz fría
- Focuses on a physical state or sensation.
- Sounds natural in casual conversation.
Mi nariz está fría
- Grammatically correct.
- Sounds more descriptive or objective, like you’re observing a property of your nose rather than how you feel.
Native speakers would usually prefer tengo la nariz fría when talking about being cold.
Adjectives in Spanish agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe.
- nariz is feminine singular → la nariz
- So the adjective must also be feminine singular → fría
If the noun were masculine, you would use frío, for example:
- el café frío = the cold coffee
Here:
- la nariz fría = the cold nose
Nariz is feminine: la nariz.
General patterns (with many exceptions):
- Nouns ending in -a are often feminine: la casa, la mesa
- Nouns ending in -o are often masculine: el libro, el carro
- Nouns ending in -z can be either:
- la luz (fem.), la vez (fem.), el lápiz (masc.)
Unfortunately, nariz is one you just have to memorize as feminine. When you learn a noun, it’s best to learn it with its article:
- la nariz (f.)
- el lápiz (m.)
In Spanish, you usually don’t need the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, etc.) because the verb ending already shows the subject.
- tengo ends in -o → clearly yo (I)
- respiro also ends in -o → also yo
So yo tengo la nariz fría y (yo) respiro por la boca is grammatically fine, but the yo is normally dropped unless you want to emphasize it (for contrast: Yo respiro por la boca, no por la nariz).
The preposition por often means through / by way of / via, which fits the idea of air passing through something.
- respiro por la boca = I breathe through my mouth
- por is used for:
- route or path: Entramos por la puerta (We entered through the door)
- means or channel: Te llamo por teléfono (I call you by phone)
de la boca would mean “of/from the mouth,” and en la boca means “in the mouth,” which don’t express the correct idea of pathway for breathing.
Respiro con la boca is understandable, but it’s less natural in standard Spanish for this meaning.
- respiro por la boca = I breathe through my mouth (normal, idiomatic)
- respiro con la boca literally = I breathe with my mouth (sounds odd, as if the mouth were a tool you use, rather than the passage the air goes through)
Native speakers overwhelmingly use por la boca for this idea.
The conjunction y (and) changes to e only before words that start with the same /i/ sound as the letter i:
- y → e before words beginning with i- or hi- (when hi- sounds like /i/):
- padre e hijo
- vino e hizo la cena
In respiro, the word starts with r, not an i sound, so we keep y:
- … la nariz fría y respiro por la boca ✅
- It would only be e if the next word started with an i sound, e.g. y iré → e iré.
Yes, but there’s a nuance:
respiro por la boca
- Simple present. Can mean:
- a general habit: “I (usually) breathe through my mouth,” or
- what’s happening right now, depending on context.
- Simple present. Can mean:
estoy respirando por la boca
- Present progressive. Emphasizes what is happening right now, at this moment.
In many situations, Spanish uses the simple present where English prefers present continuous:
- Ahora respiro por la boca = I’m breathing through my mouth now.
Both are grammatically correct; respiro por la boca is more common and neutral.
Spanish often expresses physical sensations or needs with tener + noun:
- tener frío = to be cold
- tener calor = to be hot
- tener hambre = to be hungry
- tener sed = to be thirsty
- tener sueño = to be sleepy
In tengo la nariz fría, you’re using tener with a body part to describe a physical condition of that part.
If you said mi nariz está fría, you’d be using estar + adjective, which sounds more like an objective description (the nose is cold to the touch), rather than a felt state. Everyday speech favors the tener structure for sensations.
Yes, tengo is irregular. Tener (to have) is irregular both in the yo form and in some stem changes.
Present tense of tener:
- yo tengo – I have
- tú tienes – you have (singular, informal)
- él / ella / usted tiene – he / she has, you have (formal)
- nosotros / nosotras tenemos – we have
- vosotros / vosotras tenéis – you (plural, informal, Spain) have
- ellos / ellas / ustedes tienen – they have, you (plural) have
In the sentence, tengo clearly marks the subject as yo (I).
Yes. Spanish word order is flexible here.
- Tengo la nariz fría y respiro por la boca.
- Respiro por la boca y tengo la nariz fría.
Both are correct. You just change which idea you present first, but the meaning stays the same.