Top 10 Conjugations of Tener for Everyday Spanish

In this video, we cover the top 10 forms of Tener, practice using each one, and explore how Tener interacts with pronouns, past tenses, and more.

Read: Top 10 Forms of Tener

Let’s start by listing out the top 10 forms of Tener.

We chose these words based on a frequency analysis of Spanish spoken by native Spanish speakers. According to this analysis, there are 600 words that make up over 70% of all words spoken in Spanish. And that list of 600 words includes only these 10 forms of Tener:

• tengo (present)
• tiene (present)
• tienes (present)
• tenemos (present)
• tener (infinitive)
• tenía (past)
• tienen (past)
• tuve (past)
• tenido (participle)
• tenga (subjunctive)

Let’s break down exactly how and when to use each one!

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Present-Tense Forms of Tener

Let’s start with the 5 essential present-tense forms:

• I have → tengo
• he/she has → tiene
• you have → tienes
• we have → tenemos
• they have → tienen

You’ll use these forms to describe things that someone currently has:

• I have a book. → Tengo un libro.
• She has something else. → Tiene algo más.
• Do you have a question? → ¿Tienes una pregunta?
• We have lots of time. → Tenemos mucho tiempo.
• They have many friends. → Tienen muchos amigos.

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Quick Quiz: Fill in the Blank!

Can you predict the correct form?

1. They have something else. → _______ algo más.
2. I have some questions. → _______ unas preguntas.
3. He has a book. → _______ un libro.
4. Do you have a lot of time? → ¿_______ mucho tiempo?
5. We have lots of friends. → _______ muchos amigos.

Answers:

1. Tienen
2. Tengo
3. Tiene
4. Tienes
5. Tenemos

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How To Use Tener with Direct Object Pronouns

Now let’s add another layer to this. In the sentences above, the thing that the person has is named after the verb.

For example, let’s look at this one again:

• Tiene un libro.

Here we’re naming the thing that he has (a book). But Tener is also used with direct object pronouns – which are little words that go before the verb.

Let’s change this sentence from “he has a book” to “he has it.”. This would be:

• Lo tiene.

As you can see, the thing that he has (un libro) used to be after the word “tiene”, but now it’s before (lo).

Here’s why.

When you’re naming the thing that someone has, as a noun, that generally goes after the verb Tener. Here are some of those sentences again:

1. I have some questions. → Tengo unas preguntas.
2. He has a book. → Tiene un libro.

But in both English and Spanish, we can shorten each of these to just “it” or “them”. We’ll do this when it’s clear what we’re talking about. So these would change to:

1. I have them. → Las tengo.
2. He has it. → Lo tiene.

Just for fun, let’s show how this might work in a conversation. Let’s start with the English:

• “Do you have the book?” “Yes, I have it.”

• “¿Tienes el libro?” “Sí, lo tengo.”

Now for an example that uses las instead of lo.

• “Do they have good ideas?” “Yes, they have them.”

• “¿Tienen buenas ideas?” “Sí, las tienen.”

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Your turn! Here’s a quick quiz. Try to predict the correct form of Tener.

1. They have a big house. ____ una casa grande.
2. I have it here. Lo ____ aquí.
3. She doesn’t have time. No ____ tiempo.
4. Do you have the phone? ¿____ el teléfono?
5. Yes, I have it. Si, lo ____.

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Answers

1. Tienen
2. Tengo
3. Tiene
4. Tienes
5. Tengo
   
   

Tenía vs Tuve: Past-Tense Forms of Tener

Now for the past tense. We’re going to cover two ways to talk about the past.

The first version is tenía, which means “I had”. You’ll use this to describe what you had in the general past. For example:

• I had a dog. 
• Tenía un perro.

So what we’re describing is something that I had in the past at an unspecified time.

But there are often times you’ll need a different version of the past, specifically when you mention something that happened once, as an event. In those cases, you’ll need the word tuve. For example:

• I had a conversation with her.
• Tuve una conversación con ella.

In this case, having the conversation wasn’t a general, ongoing thing, like having a dog. Instead, the conversation happened at a particular moment, as an event. So that’s why we’re using tuve rather than tenía.

Here’s another example:

• I had an accident.

This is something that happened once, at a specific moment in the past. It was a one-time event. So in Spanish, we’d say:

• Tuve un accidente. 

Quiz time! Try to predict whether to use tenía or tuve:

1. I had a party yesterday. → _______ una fiesta ayer.
2. I had long hair. → _______ pelo largo.
3. I had a meeting this morning. → _______ una reunión esta mañana.
4. Back then, I had a small house. → En ese entonces, _______ una casa pequeña.

Answers:

1. Tuve
2. Tenía
3. Tuve
4. Tenía

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Subjunctive Form: Tenga

The next form we’ll look at is a bit tricky. It’s the subjunctive form tenga.

In Spanish, you’ll need the subjunctive anytime someone wants someone to have something. The easiest way to practice this is with Querer, the verb for “to want”, followed by que and then a phrase using tenga.

For example:

• I want her to have this. → Quiero que ella tenga esto.

(Literally “I want that she have this”.)

Next, let’s change it to:

• I want him to have something. → Quiero que él tenga algo.

(Literally “I want that he have something”.)

Let’s practice. Complete the sentence (and read it out loud for extra practice).

1. I want her to have a big party. → Quiero que ella _______ una fiesta grande.
2. I want him to have a good day. → Quiero que él _______ un buen día.

Answers:

1. tenga
2. tenga
   
   

How To Use the Infinitive: Tener

Let’s look at the infinitive, tener. This is the basic form of the verb, and it doesn’t change based on who it’s referring to.

Example:

• I want to have a cat. → Quiero tener un gato.
• We want to have something else. → Queremos tener algo más.

As you can see, in each case the word tener stays the same; it’s not conjugated. Instead, we’ve conjugated the verb Querer right before it.

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The Past Participle Form of Tener

There’s another form of Tener that works the same way: The word tenido, which is what we call the past participle. This word means “had”, but in specific situations, where someone “has had” something”. For example:

• I have had a good day.

In Spanish, this would be:

• Yo he tenido un buen día.

(Note: You might be confused about the word that comes before tenido, which is he. This word is translated as “have”, but it means something totally different from the verb Tener. Instead, it’s a conjugation of Haber, which is the specific verb you’ll use before participles like tenido. Let’s keep practicing tenido — but stay tuned for an upcoming guide on Haber!)

Here are a few examples of tenido:

• He has had a good day. -> Él ha tenido un buen día.
• They have had a good day. -> Ellos han tenido un buen día.
• You have had a good day. -> Tú has tenido un buen día.

As you can see, the word tenido stayed the same in every case; it’s just the word before it (Haber) that changed.

Now you should try practicing. We’re going to practice both tener and tenido, so see if you can predict which one to use.

• I want to have a good day. Quiero ____ un buen día.
• I have had a good day. He ____ un buen día.
• She has had a good life. Ella ha ____ una vida buena.
• She wants to have a happy future. Quiere ____ un futuro feliz.

Answers:

1. tener
2. tenido
3. tenido
4. tener

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Drill Your Skills With Free Flashcards

Ready to get even better at this? We have a set of 40 flashcards you can download for free. It includes all the examples from this guide and even more. With these flashcards you can get lots of active practice with all the most common uses of the verb Tener. Enjoy!