Learn Spanish (Latin America): El niño tiene sed.

El niño tiene sed.

The boy is thirsty.

Breakdown of El niño tiene sed.

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Questions & Answers about El niño tiene sed.

Why does the sentence use tiene (has) instead of the verb to be?

In Spanish, physical states like being thirsty, hungry, cold, or hot are expressed using the verb tener (to have) followed by a noun. Instead of saying a person 'is' thirsty, Spanish speakers literally say a person 'has thirst' (tiene sed).

Why is the verb spelled tiene instead of 'tene'?

Tener is a 'stem-changing' verb. For most present tense forms, like él tiene (he has) or tú tienes (you have), the e in the middle changes to ie. The exceptions are nosotros tenemos (we have) and the irregular yo tengo (I have).

If I want to say the boy is VERY thirsty, do I use muy?

No, you would use mucha. Because sed (thirst) is a noun and not an adjective, you cannot use muy (very). Instead, you use mucho or mucha (a lot of). Because sed is feminine, to say 'The boy is very thirsty', you literally say 'The boy has a lot of thirst': El niño tiene mucha sed.

How do I pronounce the ñ with the squiggle over it in niño?