tengo años
/tenɡo aɲos/from spelling rules
To say I am years old in Spanish, use tengo años with your age placed in the middle, as in tengo … años.
Spanish states age with the verb for to have, so you literally say I have a number of years.
What does it mean word for word?
tengo means I have and años means years.
How does it change in a sentence?
Put the number between tengo and años. For one year old, the noun is singular.
How do you pronounce it?
In IPA it is /tenɡo aɲos/.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often say soy años, using the verb for to be. In Spanish you must use tengo, because you have years rather than are them.
Did you know?
- The logic of using tener for age extends to other bodily states, such as tengo hambre for 'I am hungry' and tengo frío for 'I am cold'.
- In some Spanish-speaking regions, the phrase cumplo años is used to say 'I am turning a certain age', but cumplir años is also the general term for 'having a birthday'.
- The verb tener is used for age across several Romance languages, including French and Italian, rather than the verb for 'to be'.
Examples in context
- Tengo veinte añosI am twenty years old
- Yo tengo treinta añosI am thirty years old
- Tengo diez añosI am ten years old
- Tengo veinticinco años de edadI am twenty-five years old
- Soy estudiante universitario y tengo veinticuatro años.I am a university student and I am twenty-four years old
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
