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Tener Past Conjugation: Preterite & Imperfect

/in /by

This lesson covers the Spanish verb ”tener” (‘to have’). You will learn how to use it in two of the past tenses, specifically the preterite and the imperfect, as well as how to use it in context.
Introducing the Verb Tener
Did you have a pet when you were a child? How old were you when you first rode a bike? Did you have to study until late at night yesterday? You will need the verb tener (‘to have’) in order to talk about these (and many other) topics with Spanish speakers.

Meanings
The verb tener has multiple meanings in Spanish, and therefore it can be used in a variety of contexts, from its primary meaning of possession (‘to have’), to different uses such as talking about your age, experiences, or emotions. Moreover, when followed by que, this verb implies obligation (‘to have to do something’).

VERB: tener (teh-NEHR) – to have
Meanings Examples
Possession tener un coche/una mascota/un hijo…
(‘to have a car/a pet/a child’)
Age tener X años
(‘to be X years old’)
States tener frío/calor/hambre/sed
(‘to be cold/hot/hungry/thirsty’)
Emotions tener miedo/vergüenza
(‘to be afraid/embarrassed’)
Obligation: tener que + infinitive
(‘to have to + inf.’) tener que estudiar/trabajar/limpiar…
(‘to have to study/work/clean…’)
Translation: To be cold
cold
Preterite of Tener
We use the preterite when talking about finished actions in the past, so the preterite of tener would be the equivalent of ‘had’ in English.

In Spanish, this verb is completely irregular in the preterite, its stem changing into tuv-.

Let’s look at the whole verb in conjugated forms.

VERB: tener (teh-NEHR) – to have
Subject Pronouns Tener Conjugation: Preterite Pronunciation Translation
yo tuve TOO-beh I had
tú tuviste too-BEES-teh you had
él/ella/usted tuvo TOO-boh he/she/you formal had
nosotros/nosotras tuvimos too-BEE-mohs we had
vosotros/vosotras tuvisteis too-BEES-tays you all had
ellos/ellas/ustedes tuvieron too-BYEH-rohn they/you all formal had
Examples
Nuria has just received a text from Javi, her best friend, who apologizes for not having called her the day before.

Javi: Nuria, perdona que no te llamara ayer. (‘Nuria, I’m sorry I didn’t call you yesterday’) No tuve tiempo. (‘I didn’t have time’)

Nuria: No pasa nada. (‘It doesn’t matter’) ¿Tuviste mucho trabajo en la oficina? (‘Did you have a lot of work at the office?’)

Javi: Sí, y además tuvimos una reunión y tuve que quedarme hasta tarde. (‘Yes, and plus, we had a meeting, so I had to stay until late’.)

Imperfect of Tener
In contrast, we use the imperfect in order to talk about actions that used to happen at some point in the past. For example, we might use it to describe past routines or childhood experiences.

The good news is that the imperfect does follow the regular conjugation pattern, so we will only need to take the stem ten- and add the corresponding endings depending on the person. Much easier!

VERB: tener (teh-NEHR) – to have

 
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