Tener conjugation chart
Tener present tense
presente · I speak
| yo | I have | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you have | |
| vos | you have | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she has | |
| nosotros | we have | |
| vosotros | you all have | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they have |
The highlighted forms change their stem. Notice that nosotros, vosotros and vos stay out: draw a line around the forms that change and you get a boot, which is why these are called “boot verbs.”
Tener preterite
pretérito · I spoke
| yo | I had | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you had | |
| vos | you had | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she had | |
| nosotros | we had | |
| vosotros | you all had | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they had |
Irregular stem tuv- + -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron, with no accent marks.
Tener imperfect
pretérito imperfecto · I used to speak
| yo | I had | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you had | |
| vos | you had | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she had | |
| nosotros | we had | |
| vosotros | you all had | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they had |
Regular: same endings as comer.
Tener future
futuro · I will speak
| yo | I will have | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you will have | |
| vos | you will have | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she will have | |
| nosotros | we will have | |
| vosotros | you all will have | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they will have |
Irregular stem tendr- + -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án.
Tener conditional
condicional · I would speak
| yo | I would have | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | you would have | |
| vos | you would have | |
| él, ella, usted | he/she would have | |
| nosotros | we would have | |
| vosotros | you all would have | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | they would have |
Irregular stem tendr- + -ía, -ías, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
Tener present subjunctive
presente de subjuntivo · that I speak
| yo | that I have | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | that you have | |
| vos | that you have | |
| él, ella, usted | that he/she have | |
| nosotros | that we have | |
| vosotros | that you all have | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | that they have |
Irregular stem teng- (from the yo form tengo) + -a, -as, -amos, -áis, -an.
Tener imperfect subjunctive
imperfecto de subjuntivo · if I spoke
| yo | if I had | |
|---|---|---|
| tú | if you had | |
| vos | if you had | |
| él, ella, usted | if he/she had | |
| nosotros | if we had | |
| vosotros | if you all had | |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | if they had |
Irregular stem tuv- + -iera, -ieras, -iéramos, -ierais, -ieran.
In the subjunctive, vos takes the same form as tú in careful speech. The imperfect subjunctive also has an -se form (tuviese), more common in writing.
Tener affirmative commands
imperativo · speak!
| tú | have! | |
|---|---|---|
| vos | have! | |
| usted | have! | |
| nosotros | let's have! | |
| vosotros | have! | |
| ustedes | have! |
Irregular tú form: ten. Usted, nosotros and ustedes come from the present subjunctive (tenga, tengamos, tengan).
Tener negative commands
imperativo negativo · don't speak!
| tú | don't have! | |
|---|---|---|
| vos | don't have! | |
| usted | don't have! | |
| nosotros | let's not have! | |
| vosotros | don't have! | |
| ustedes | don't have! |
Built from the present subjunctive: no + tengas, tenga…
Always the verb haber + the past participle tenido, which never changes.
Tener present perfect
pretérito perfecto · I have spoken
| yo | he tenido |
|---|---|
| tú | has tenido |
| vos | has tenido |
| él, ella, usted | ha tenido |
| nosotros | hemos tenido |
| vosotros | habéis tenido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | han tenido |
Tener pluperfect
pluscuamperfecto · I had spoken
| yo | había tenido |
|---|---|
| tú | habías tenido |
| vos | habías tenido |
| él, ella, usted | había tenido |
| nosotros | habíamos tenido |
| vosotros | habíais tenido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habían tenido |
Tener future perfect
futuro perfecto · I will have spoken
| yo | habré tenido |
|---|---|
| tú | habrás tenido |
| vos | habrás tenido |
| él, ella, usted | habrá tenido |
| nosotros | habremos tenido |
| vosotros | habréis tenido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrán tenido |
Tener conditional perfect
condicional perfecto · I would have spoken
| yo | habría tenido |
|---|---|
| tú | habrías tenido |
| vos | habrías tenido |
| él, ella, usted | habría tenido |
| nosotros | habríamos tenido |
| vosotros | habríais tenido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | habrían tenido |
Tener present perfect subjunctive
pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo · that I have spoken
| yo | haya tenido |
|---|---|
| tú | hayas tenido |
| vos | hayas tenido |
| él, ella, usted | haya tenido |
| nosotros | hayamos tenido |
| vosotros | hayáis tenido |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | hayan tenido |
In Latin America, ustedes is the only “you all”; vosotros is used only in Spain. Vos is used in Argentina, Uruguay and much of Central America. Uncheck the boxes above to hide what you don’t need.
Watch out
Where English uses “to be,” Spanish often uses tener: tengo 30 años (I'm 30), tengo hambre (I'm hungry). And tener que + infinitive is “to have to”: tengo que trabajar.
Examples with tener
Tengo dos hermanos.
I have two brothers.
Tuve que salir temprano.
I had to leave early.
¿Tienes hambre?
Are you hungry?
Hear tener from native speakers
Practice tener
Type the right form and press Enter. A missing accent still counts, but I'll point it out.
Verbs like tener
Stem change e → ie (tener → tienes). Same pattern:
querer quieresvenir vienespensar piensasempezar empiezascomenzar comienzascerrar cierrasentender entiendesperder pierdes
Yo-go verbs (tener → tengo). Same pattern:
hacer hagodecir digovenir vengoponer pongosalir salgotraer traigocaer caigooír oigo
Irregular preterite (tener → tuve). Same pattern:
estar estuvehaber hubehacer hicepoder pudedecir dijesaber supequerer quisevenir vine