Lección 3.2

The Verbs Tener and Venir in the Present Tense

Tener (to have) and venir (to come) are two of the most commonly used irregular verbs in Spanish. They are often presented together because they have similar changes in their forms.

Venir — to come

Example Use Case: Conjugating the Verb “Venir”

The verb venir is used to express when someone is going to come. For example, Él viene a la celebración de Cinco de Mayo. (He comes to the Cinco de Mayo celebration.)

Venir, when combined with a (to) and a place, is used to express where someone comes to. For example, Ana viene al restaurante a las cinco y media. (Ana comes to the restaurant at five thirty.)

Venir, when combined with de and a place, is used to express where someone comes from. For example, Mercedes y Antonio vienen de una quinceañera. (Mercedes and Antonio come from a quinceañera.)

Venir, when combined with con and a person or thing, is used to express with whom or what someone comes. For example, Cristina viene con su perro. (Cristina comes with her dog.)

Tener — to have

The verb tener is one of the most useful verbs in Spanish. It can express what someone has, what someone has to do, and it is used when expressing the most basic feelings and other conditions.

Tener when expressing what someone has

• Ella tiene una fiesta. She has a party.
• Nosotros tenemos una clase de español. We have a Spanish class.
• A ellos les gusta tener celebraciones. They like to have celebrations.

Tener when expressing what someone has to do – Tener + que + infinitive

Here are some examples:

• Natalia tiene que dibujar todos los días. Natalia has to draw every day.
• Daniel y Nicolás tienen que preparar la comida para la fiesta de Marta. Daniel and Nicolas have to prepare the food for Marta’s party.
• Yo tengo que devolver el vestido a Sabrina. I have to return the dress to Sabrina.

Tener + Expression

Below is a list of the expressions that are used with tener to express the most basic needs and other conditions.

It is important to note that these expressions using the verb tener round out the last way to express what in English is “to be,” along with ser and estar. However, in Spanish, it is “to have” hunger, thirst, years, etc.

Verbs with Irregular “yo” Forms in the Present Tense

In Spanish, most verbs follow a regular pattern in the present tense. But some verbs have a special change only in the yo (I) form. These are called verbs with irregular yo forms. Although these verbs don’t follow the regular-verb pattern in the yo form, the rest of their conjugations are usually regular. Earlier in the text, the verbs hacer, tener and venir were presented because of their usefulness. Learning more verbs with irregular verb forms is important because they are common in daily conversations and help to make communication more natural and fluent. There is no way to tell these verbs apart from regular verbs, so the best way to add them to your vocabulary is through memorization.

-go verbs — “Go” in the yo form

Since there are forms that have more than one irregularity and don’t follow the rules in the other forms, below is a chart with their complete conjugations.

-zco verbs — end in “-zco” in the yo form

Irregular spelling

Luckily, these verbs are irregular only in the yo form. They are regular in the other forms.

Below is a summary of the endings of these verbs with irregular ‘yo’ forms.