Conjugating the Irregular Verb Tener

The irregular verb teneris one of the more difficult Spanish verbs to conjugate and to use correctly. But don’t worry — we’ll go over all of it right here!

The Present Tense

Let’s get started with the present tense. We notice the following:

• tener is an -er verb (see more here)
• specifically, tener is a verb ending in -ner (so a g will appear in certain forms)
• tener is a stem shifting verb from e > ie

These three traits explain the present tense forms of the verb tener:

Now let’s make a few example sentences using the verb tenerin the present tense:

The Future and Conditional Tenses

In the future and conditional tenses, the verb teneris irregular. Instead of using the infinitive as a stem, we use the irregular future and conditional stem tendr-.

Now let’s see some examples using the verb tenerin the future and conditional tenses:

The Preterite (Simple Past)

The preterite, or simple past, form of the verb teneris completely irregular. It is very similar to the preterite form of the verb "estar", using tuv- as a stem.

Here we have some example sentences using the verb tener in the preterite tense:

Other Tenses & Verb Forms of Tener

There are many more forms of the verb tener. Some, like the past imperfect, are completely regular. Others, like the subjunctive use the irregular stems mentioned above. To see all of the possible forms of tener check out our full conjugation of the verb “tener”.

Expressions Using the Verb Tener

In English, we have phrases like to have fun that include the verb to have. But we don’t actually possess the fun, we just mean that we are enjoying ourselves. This same thing happens in Spanish as well. We can use the verb tener, which basically means to have, in phrases like tener sed(to be thirsty). It doesn’t mean that we literally possess thirst, only that we are feeling thirsty.

Let’s look at some examples:

Now let’s use some of these in some example sentences:

The Phrase Tener Que

In English we have the phrase have to, meaning need to, which is totally unrelated to the original meaning of the verb to have. In Spanish, we have this as well. We can use the phrase tener que+ infinitive to mean to have to, to need to.

Let’s look at some examples: