Tener means to have, but Spanish speakers use it for far more: your age, your hunger, your fears and everything you have to do today.
Learn tener well and you unlock dozens of survival phrases at once. Here are the forms and patterns that matter most in real conversation.
Present tense quirks: tengo, tienes, tiene
Tener has two irregularities in the present. The yo form adds a g: tengo. And the stem changes e → ie in most forms: tú tienes, él / ella / usted tiene, ellos / ustedes tienen. Nosotros stays regular: tenemos. With vos: vos tenés.
Say the four forms you'll use most until they feel natural: tengo, tienes (or tenés), tiene, tenemos.
Preterite: tuve, tuviste, tuvo
In the preterite, tener switches to the stem tuv-: yo tuve, tú tuviste, él / ella / usted tuvo, nosotros tuvimos, ellos / ustedes tuvieron. No written accents.
It often means had or got in a specific moment: Tuve un problema con el taxi. Tuvimos suerte. Tuve que esperar una hora.
Tener que: the obligation formula
Tener que + infinitive means to have to: Tengo que trabajar. Tienes que probar el gallo pinto. ¿Tenemos que pagar ahora?
It's one of the most useful structures in Spanish because you only need to conjugate tener — the second verb stays in the infinitive. Tuve que… covers the past: Tuve que cambiar mi vuelo.
Idioms that use tener (where English uses to be)
Spanish says you have hunger, not that you are hungry: tengo hambre, tengo sed, tengo frío, tengo calor, tengo sueño, tengo miedo. Age works the same way: Tengo treinta años.
Other everyday chunks: tener ganas de (to feel like) — Tengo ganas de un café. Tener razón (to be right). Tener cuidado (to be careful) — ¡Tené cuidado! Tener prisa (to be in a hurry).
Practising tener out loud
Build a personal script: your age, what you have to do today and what you feel like doing. Say it every morning until it's automatic.
Then practise it in conversation. TutorIA's voice tutor can roleplay a friend asking ¿Qué tenés que hacer hoy? so you answer spontaneously instead of reading.