Showing posts with label be. Show all posts
Showing posts with label be. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 January 2012

BE, not HAVE!

As you know, in Spanish we use "tener" to talk about age, but in English we use BE:

Tiene veintitantos= he's in his twenties.
Tenía más de treinta años = he was over thirty (years old).

Here are some other common expressions where you need BE (and not HAVE). The reason is that in Spanish we say tener + sustantivo, but in English it's BE + adjective:

-Tiene frío = She's cold.
-Tenían calor = they were hot (en realidad no sabemos decir "calor". Literalmente decimos
"estaban calientes").
-Tenía razón = she was right.
-No tienes razón =You're wrong.

Finally, remember the expression "tener prisa": to be in a hurry

I have to go now. I'm in a hurry.