Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Tienen frío los gatos?

¿Tienen frío los gatos?

Are the cats cold?

Breakdown of ¿Tienen frío los gatos?

el gato

the cat

los

the (masculine plural)

Questions & Answers about ¿Tienen frío los gatos?

Why does the sentence use tienen (have) instead of a word for "are"?

In English, we use the verb "to be" for physical states like being cold, hot, hungry, or thirsty. In Spanish, you use the verb tener (to have) for these feelings. Literally, this sentence asks "Do the cats have cold?"

Could I say ¿Están fríos los gatos? instead?

If you use the verb estar (to be) with the adjective fríos, you are describing the physical temperature of the cats themselves (for example, their fur feels cold to the touch). To talk about the cats feeling the sensation of being cold inside, you must use tener frío.

Why is the subject los gatos at the very end of the sentence?

In Spanish questions, it is very common to put the subject after the verb and the object. While you could perfectly well ask ¿Los gatos tienen frío?, putting the verb first is a natural way to show it is a question. Spanish doesn't use helping words like "Do" to start questions.

Should frío be plural (fríos) since there are multiple cats?

No, it stays as frío. In the expression tener frío, the word frío acts as a noun (meaning "coldness"), not an adjective describing the cats. Since the cats "have coldness," the word frío doesn't change.