Conjugating the Irregular Spanish Verb Tener (to Have)

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like tener, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

Tener (teh-nehr) (to have) is a tricky -er verb; sometimes it’s regular, and sometimes it’s not. In the present tense, it has an e-to-ie stem change in all but the yo, nosotros, and vosotros forms. Notice that the yo form is completely irregular. Other popular irregular Spanish verbs include: hacer, querer, venir and ser. Here’s the present tense conjugation:

The following examples show you tener in action:

• Yo tengo dos perros. (I have two dogs.)

• ¿Tienes novelas en tu casa? (Do you have novels at your house?)

In the preterit, tener has an irregular stem: tuv-. Notice also that it doesn’t have the accent marks regular verbs use in the preterit. Take a look: But wait — it gets better. Tener is one of those verbs that shifts meaning in the preterit; here, it means “to have at a certain time.” Sound confusing? Check out the following examples:

• Yo tuve ocho clases el año pasado. (I had eight classes last year.)

• Mis padres tuvieron tres hijos. (My parents had three sons.)

You’re off the hook with the stem change in the imperfect form; tener conjugates normally. Check out the following table and examples. Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

• ¿Tenías una bicicleta cuando eras niño? (Did you used to have a bicycle when you were a child?)

• Sí. Tenía una bicicleta. (Yes. I did used to have a bicycle.)

Tener also has an irregular stem in the future tense: tendr-. However, it does use the normal future endings: The following samples put the future tense to work:

• El profesor tendrá suficientes libros para todos los estudiantes. (The teacher will have enough books for all of the students.)

• Los estudiantes tendrán mucho que leer. (The students will have a lot to read.)