What does tener mean?
tener means to have in English. It is a go verb and irregular stem and one of the verbs Spanish learners should recognize quickly because it appears in everyday speech, stories, instructions, and classroom practice.
Learning a verb well means more than memorizing one form. You need to see how the verb changes with different subjects, how it behaves in the past, and how it sounds in practical sentences. This page gives you a compact reference for tener and connects it to related VerbyGo practice pages.
tener conjugation table
Use this table as a starting point for active recall. Cover one column, say the pronoun, and try to produce the form before checking the answer.
| Pronoun | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Future |
|---|
| yo |
tengo |
tuve |
tenía |
tendré |
| tú |
tienes |
tuviste |
tenías |
tendrás |
| él / ella / usted |
tiene |
tuvo |
tenía |
tendrá |
| nosotros/as |
tenemos |
tuvimos |
teníamos |
tendremos |
| ellos/as / ustedes |
tienen |
tuvieron |
tenían |
tendrán |
Examples with tener
- Tengo una pregunta. I have a question.
- Teníamos mucho tiempo. We had a lot of time.
- Ellos tendrán una respuestá. They will have an answer.
Read each example as a full sentence. This helps you connect the form to meaning, not just to a chart. If a form feels difficult, practice it with several pronouns before moving to a new tense.
Practice prompts
- Conjugate tener for yo in the present.
- Conjugate tener for ella in the preterite.
- Conjugate tener for nosotros/as in the imperfect.
- Write one sentence using tener in the future.
Practice tener online
Use VerbyGo to practice Spanish conjugations with instant feedback, accent checking, and recent mistake review.
