Tengo que cambiar el cordón de mis zapatillas porque se rompió.

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Breakdown of Tengo que cambiar el cordón de mis zapatillas porque se rompió.

• de: of
• mis: my
• porque: because

Questions & Answers about Tengo que cambiar el cordón de mis zapatillas porque se rompió.

Why does tengo que mean I have to?

Tener que + infinitive is one of the most common ways to express obligation in Spanish.

• tengo = I have
• que = part of the fixed structure
• cambiar = to change

So tengo que cambiar literally looks like I have that to change, but in natural English it means I have to change.

Other forms:

• tienes que = you have to
• tenemos que = we have to
• tuvieron que = they had to

Why is it cambiar and not a form like cambio?

After tener que, Spanish uses the infinitive form of the verb.

So:

• tengo que cambiar = I have to change
• not tengo que cambio

That is the same pattern as:

• quiero comer = I want to eat
• voy a salir = I’m going to go out
• puedo ayudarte = I can help you

When one verb follows another structure like this, the second verb is very often in the infinitive.