📖LearnModule 2 · Lesson 3 of 30Basic User · CEFR A1, completedUnit 1 · El presente — the full present tense
Tener, and the -ar family complete
Module 2 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 3 of 30: Tener completes: tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tienen, tienen. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
nosotros tenemos
we have
noh-SOH-trohs teh-NEH-mohs
ustedes tienen
you have (plural)
oos-TEH-dehs TYEH-nehn
nosotros tenemos un perro
we have a dog
noh-SOH-trohs teh-NEH-mohs oon PEH-rroh
nosotros hablamos
we speak
noh-SOH-trohs ah-BLAH-mohs
ellos hablan
they speak
EH-yohs AH-blahn
estudiar
to study
ehs-too-DYAR
yo estudio español
I study Spanish
yoh ehs-TOO-dyoh ehs-pah-NYOHL
trabajar
to work
trah-bah-HAR
tomar
to take / to drink
toh-MAR
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Tener completes: tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tienen, tienen. Nosotros tenemos un perro. Ustedes tienen hambre.
Y también · And also
The full -ar pattern on hablar: hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, hablan, hablan. Every regular -ar verb repeats this shape — estudiar (to study), trabajar (to work), tomar (to take, to drink). Learn it once, own hundreds of verbs.
Ojo · Watch out
Only the nosotros form keeps the vowel of the infinitive: hablAmos, tenEmos, vivImos. It is the one form you can read straight off the dictionary word.
tener, presente — the table
yo tengo · tú tienes · él/ella/usted tiene · nosotros tenemos · ustedes tienen · ellos/ellas tienen
hablar, presente — the table
yo hablo · tú hablas · él/ella/usted habla · nosotros hablamos · ustedes hablan · ellos/ellas hablan
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with nosotros tenemos.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out tener, presente and hablar, presente in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.