Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ten paciencia con el actor, tienes que empezar a cantar. - Have patience with the actor, you have to start singing.

Ten paciencia con el actor, tienes que empezar a cantar.

Have patience with the actor, you have to start singing.

Breakdown of Ten paciencia con el actor, tienes que empezar a cantar.

Questions & Answers about Ten paciencia con el actor, tienes que empezar a cantar.

Why does the sentence start with Ten instead of Tienes?

Ten is the irregular informal command of the verb tener (to have). You use this affirmative tú imperative when you are directly telling a friend or peer to do something, like "Have patience!"

Why do we use Ten at the beginning, but tienes later in the same sentence?

They are both forms of the verb tener used for tú (informal you), but they have different jobs here. Ten is giving an order ("Have patience!"), whereas tienes is just a regular statement of fact ("you have to").

Why is there an a in empezar a cantar?

The verb empezar (to start) always needs the preposition a when it connects to another verb. In English, we just say "start singing," but in Spanish, the formula is empezar a + infinitive verb.

The English translation says "singing", so why is it cantar (to sing) instead of cantando?

In English, we often use the "-ing" form after verbs like "start". However, in Spanish, when a verb follows a phrase like empezar a or tener que, it must stay in its basic infinitive form. So you use cantar, not cantando.