Tener is one of the most important irregular verbs in Spanish — it appears in virtually every GCSE and A-Level task.
Practice tener free →Tener is one of the first verbs every Spanish learner meets, and for good reason — it does far more work than its usual translation 'to have' suggests. Yes, it expresses possession (tengo un coche, I have a car), but Spanish also leans on tener for things English handles with 'to be': your age (tengo quince años), hunger and thirst (tengo hambre), fear, luck, and being right. That mismatch is exactly why it trips learners up and why examiners love it. Tener is irregular — the yo form is tengo, and the stem changes to tien- in much of the present — so it has to be learned rather than worked out. You will hear it constantly in real speech, from ordering food to describing how you feel, which makes it one of the highest-value verbs to get automatic. For GCSE and A-Level, confident use of tener across tenses signals genuine fluency.
Quick facts
Tener (to have) is an irregular -er verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
The core meaning — to have or own something: tengo dos hermanos (I have two siblings), ¿tienes tiempo? (do you have time?).
Spanish expresses age with tener, not 'to be': tengo dieciséis años (I am sixteen — literally 'I have sixteen years'). Forgetting this is one of the most common beginner errors.
Tener covers many sensations English handles with 'to be': tener hambre (to be hungry), tener sed (thirsty), tener frío/calor (cold/hot), tener miedo (afraid), tener sueño (sleepy).
Tener que + infinitive means 'to have to' do something: tengo que estudiar (I have to study). This is one of the most useful structures for expressing necessity at GCSE.
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
Don't translate age as 'I am 16' → 'Soy 16'. In Spanish it's tengo 16 años. Also remember: tener que + infinitivo = to have to. The yo preterite is tuve (not *tenué or *tuví).
Irregular yo form: the yo form does not follow the pattern at all. Also stem-changes (e→ie) in tú, él, and ellos.
Completely irregular stem: tuv-. The endings also differ slightly from regular -er verbs in the preterite.
Irregular future stem: tendr- (not tener-). Apply the regular future endings to this contracted stem.
Uses the same irregular stem as the future: tendr-. Apply conditional endings to tendr-.
Irregular tú imperative: ten (not tiene). All other forms use the subjunctive: tenga, tengamos, tened, tengan.
Uses the irregular future stem tendr-: habré tenido, habrás tenido… The participle tenido is regular.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice tener now →Three questions, no account needed. Type the form, then press Enter or tap Check.
yo: tengo, tú: tienes, él: tiene, nosotros: tenemos, vosotros: tenéis, ellos: tienen
Tener is irregular. The tenses with irregular forms are: Presente, Pretérito Indefinido, Futuro, Condicional, Imperativo, Futuro Compuesto.
The past participle is tenido (he tenido) and the gerund is teniendo (estoy teniendo).
Verbs that are easy to confuse with tener or that behave like it.
Tener is on the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas GCSE Spanish vocabulary lists. Compare the exam boards.
Written by Daniel Holmes for GCSE & A-Level Spanish students.