Breakdown of ¿Tenemos que comer el postre ahora?
comer
to eat; to have lunch
ahora
now
tener
to have
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
Questions & Answers about ¿Tenemos que comer el postre ahora?
Why is there a que after tenemos?
In Spanish, to say you 'have to' do something, you must use the set phrase tener que followed by the action. Without the que, tenemos simply means 'we have' (as in owning something). Together, tenemos que translates to 'we have to'.
Why isn't there a word for 'Do' at the beginning of the question?
Why do we use comer instead of changing it to match 'we' like comemos?
When you have a set phrase that combines two verbs, like tener que plus an action, only the first verb changes to match the person (tenemos for 'we'). The second verb stays in its base dictionary form, called an infinitive (comer, meaning 'to eat').