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Grammar questions– conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax, etc.


 
 
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  #1
Old December 14, 2011, 12:49 PM
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Tiene

I have a question on the word tiene.

yo tengo - I have
tu tienes – you have
él/ella/usted tiene – he/she has and you have

El tiene flores - He has flowers
Ella tiene un perro - She has a dog
Usted tiene libros - You have books
Ustedes tienen - You all have
Nosotros tenemos - We have
Nosotros teniemos - We had? If teniemos is spelled correctly. I get confused when pronouncing tenemos and teniemos. I want to say tenemos but I sometimes end up saying teniemos.

My question is here in this example. Ella tiene dos años. I translate it to 'She has two years' But i wouldn't say that in English. I would say "She is two years' I tried search online to see if tiene could mean "is" all I get are examples that I left above.
   
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  #2
Old December 14, 2011, 12:54 PM
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We had is teníamos.

A few states which in English are expressing as being an adjective are expressed in Spanish as having a noun. The most notable are age, hunger, and thirst.
  #3
Old December 14, 2011, 02:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikemacabre View Post
tú tienes – you have
él/ella/usted tiene – he/she/it has and you have

Él tiene flores - He has flowers
...
Nosotros teniemos (see my comment below) - We had
we had = tuvimos (preterite)
we were having / we had = teníamos (imperfect)

And, to augment what pjt33 said:
Tengo hambre. = I'm hungry
Ella tiene sed. = She's thirsty.
¿Tienes doce años? = Are you twelve years old?
  #4
Old December 14, 2011, 02:47 PM
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Garcias los dos. En mi libro. Ustedes son padre. Tuve otro pregunta pero me olvido.

learned a new word. Didn't know how to say 'thirsty' in spanish... sed

Last edited by mikemacabre; December 14, 2011 at 02:50 PM.
  #5
Old December 14, 2011, 03:21 PM
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Originally Posted by mikemacabre View Post
Gracias a los dos. En mi libro ustedes son padre. Tuve otro pregunta pero se me olvidó.

Learned a new word. Didn't know how to say 'thirsty' in Spanish... sed
'In my book ...' is an English idiomatic expression. You need to find the Spanish equivalent in order to make any sense.

The equivalent expression is 'A mi modo de ver ...'.

'Ustedes son padre' doesn't work. The slang expression 'You are cool' is rendered 'How cool (you are)' and can be said:
Qué padre((s) que es/son).
Qué chido.
Qué guay.
Qué chévere.
Qué macanudo.

The last two are used in Central America. The first two are used in Mexico. The middle one is used in Spain.
There are other ways to say it.
  #6
Old December 14, 2011, 04:50 PM
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haha I love this forum.. So if I said padre frijoles/cool beans wouldn't make sense either huh? They would probably hear father beans.

Back to learning.. So I should of just said 'Gracias a los dos. A mi modo de ver son padres. Tuve otro pregunta pero se me olvidó.'

Now I do not know the word 'modo' A mi is In my - modo - ? - de It can mean a lot of words - ver is to see or view

modo NM form N
modo NM mode N v
modo NM mood N
modo NM sort N
modo NM manner N
modo NM method N
modo NM moderation N
modo NM way N

Modo can mean a lot of words too. 'Way' fits best In my way of view? Not translated correctly but close?

Last edited by Rusty; December 14, 2011 at 05:49 PM. Reason: merged back-to-back posts
  #7
Old December 14, 2011, 06:17 PM
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Originally Posted by mikemacabre View Post
haha I love this forum.. So if I said padre frijoles/cool beans, it wouldn't make sense either, huh? They would probably hear father beans. (from a religious point of view, yes)

Back to learning. So I should have just said 'Gracias a los dos. A mi modo de ver son padres. (This means we're fathers, which is most likely not what you wanted to say. 'Qué chidos que son' is probably the best Mexican way to say what you intended.) Tenía otra pregunta pero se me olvidó.' (I didn't correct everything before. Here the imperfect tense is used because you didn't stop 'having' another question. I think you know what the other correction is for. )

Now I do not know the word 'modo'.
...
In my way of view? Not translated correctly but close?
Close.
Since English idiomatic expressions can't usually be translated directly into Spanish, it follows that Spanish expressions won't always translate directly into English.

The expression means "in my book."
This is another way to say "the way I see it." There are other possibilities, but you get the drift.

A mi modo = to my way
de ver = of seeing

That last word is an infinitive. However, when the Spanish infinitive is used as a noun (notice it's the object of a preposition), it's the equivalent of the English gerund (a word that stems from a verb, but acts as a noun).
Here are other Spanish sentences that contain an infinitive that acts as a noun:
Estudiar es importante. = Studying is important. (What's important? The subject 'studying'.)
Me gusta leer. = I like reading. (What do I like? The object 'reading'.)

Last edited by Rusty; December 14, 2011 at 07:17 PM.
  #8
Old December 14, 2011, 06:45 PM
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father beans. (from a religious point of view, yes) <----LMAO!!!

I appreciate the corrections, translations and the information Rusty!
 

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