Question 1

Why is the verb no tengas instead of no tienes or no ten?

Accepted Answer

To tell someone not to do something (a negative command), you cannot just put no in front of the normal you form (tienes) or the positive command (ten). For verbs with an irregular yo form like tener (tengo), you drop the -o and add the opposite vowel ending. Because tener is an -er verb, you add the -ar ending -as, resulting in no tengas.

Question 2

If the negative command is no tengas, how do I give the positive command to have something?

Accepted Answer

The positive command for tener is simply ten. Irregular verbs often have a completely different, short form for positive commands, but they predictably use the yo form trick to build their negative commands. To tell someone to do it, you would just say Ten un perfil público.

Question 3

Why does público have an accent mark?

Accepted Answer

The accent mark on público shows that you must put the vocal stress on the first syllable. Without it, the stress would naturally fall on the second-to-last syllable, making it sound like publico. That is actually a different word entirely, meaning I publish.

Question 4

Why is it perfil público instead of público perfil?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like público almost always come directly after the noun they are describing. Here, the noun is perfil.

No tengas un perfil público.

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