tenía
/tenia/from spelling rules
In Spanish, tenía is the way to say it had.
tenía is the past tense of the verb 'have' used to describe possession or a characteristic of a thing or animal. It can also be used to describe an obligation when followed by 'que' to form the phrase tenía que, meaning 'it had to'.
Which one should you use?
While tenía describes a continuous state or background possession in the past, the form tuvo is used for a specific event or a completed action of having something.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form tenía is the imperfect indicative. This tense is used to describe ongoing states, characteristics or habitual actions in the past.
How do you pronounce it?
/tenia/
Did you know?
- The root ten- in tenía is a distant relative of the English word 'tenacious', as both come from the Latin 'tenere' meaning 'to hold'.
- The verb tener is used to express hunger tener hambre and thirst tener sed, meaning a Spanish speaker literally says they 'have hunger' rather than 'are hungry'.
- While tenía describes possession, the same root is used in the expression tener razón, which means 'to be right' rather than to possess a reason.
Examples in context
- Tenía que pasar en algún lado.It had to happen somewhere.This sentence shows how tenía can express necessity or obligation.Tatoeba #4318009 by pchamorro, translation #3129515 by CK
- Tenía que pasar en algún momento.It had to happen sometime.This sentence demonstrates the use of tenía to express a necessity in time.Tatoeba #4317959 by pchamorro, translation #3129486 by CK
- Sofía tenía su propio poni. Se lo había dado su padre.Sophie had her own pony. It had been given to her by her father.This sentence uses tenía to describe possession.Tatoeba #1793642 by Shishir, translation #1259915 by Scott
- La casa tenía un jardín hermoso.The house had a beautiful garden.
- El museo tenía una colección sorprendente.The museum had an amazing collection.
- La casa tenía ventanas grandes.The house had big windows.
- El libro contaba con ilustraciones hermosas.The book had beautiful illustrations.
- La conferencia tenía invitados destacados.The conference had distinguished guests.
- 3 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Mateo and Lucía are talking about an old apartment Mateo used to live in.
- Mateo¿Cómo era tu antiguo apartamento?How was your old apartment?
- LucíaEra pequeño, pero tenía mucha luz.It was small, but it had a lot of light.
- Mateo¡Qué bueno! ¿Tenía un balcón también?That's good! Did it have a balcony too?
- LucíaNo, no tenía balcón.No, it didn't have a balcony.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
