Coffee Break Spanish - When "to be" means "tener" in Spanish | A Coffee Break with Pablo

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

Join Pablo from the Coffee Break Spanish team in another useful little espresso lesson. ☕In this episode, he explores a set of everyday expressions that use “to be” in English but “tener��� in Spanish. You’ll learn to say things like:❄️ tener frío 🍽 tener hambre 💪 tener razónand much more!These are super common expressions that every learner needs, perfect for sounding more natural in daily conversations!➡️ Want more bite-sized Spanish lessons? Subscribe to the Coffee Break Spanish newsletter and get new content straight to your inbox! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, goodas. What are you? I'm Pablo of Coffee Break Spanis and today is my turn to be

a little coffee with you're keeping warm. Winter has definitely arrived in Scotland and

all this cold weather actually inspired today's mini lesson. Prepared because we're

we're we're the other day, a a man Spanish me

visit in Glasgow. we went to have to with a dinner with some some of Scenarces and

when we were in the she said in English I have cold this made me smile a lot because of course what she meant was I am cold because it was really

freezing in Glasgow that day what he was that was that's that tradujo directly of Spanish, Tengo Frio which literally means I'm

I have cold. So that moment reminded me of how many everyday expressions in Spanish use tenor to have when they use the verb to be in English. So, prepareate because a continuation, we're going to be a few expressions. So in Spanish, we don't say things like to be cold, to be hungry, to be scared, and so on. Instead, we use tenor followed by a noun. Let's start when you're feeling cold, instead of saying, I am cold. In Spanish, you'll need the verb to have.

Tenggo frio. If you were feeling hot, instead, you would say, Tenggo calor. Very well. So, Tengo frio or Tengo Calor. I'm cold or I'm hot. If you're feeling hungry, like me all the time, to be honest, you are going to need the verb to have in Spanish too.

So you would say, Tenggo Ambre. So, for example, if you want to ask someone, if they are hungry, you would say, Tienes Ambre. Similarly, to say, I'm thirsty, you would say, Tengo, SED. Okay, so we've seen Tengo Frio, Tengo Calor, Tengue, and Tengoset. Let's continue.

Imagine you're watching a scary movie and you want to say, I'm scared. Then you would say, Tengo Miedo. Literally, I have fear. The next is very important. Now, if you want to say I'm right, you would say, Tengo Razon. Or if you want to say that someone else is right, you would say,

Tienes Rathon. What about I'm lucky? Well, then, then you'd say, Tengo Suer, or he or she is very lucky? he has much suerty. Very well. So,

now we've seen I'm reason, and I'm sure. Let's see two more. What if you want to say

I'm sleepy in Spanish? A pista, Necessitamos also, the verb Tener. Therefore,

I'm sleepy is Tengo Sueño. And finally, if you want to say I'm careful,

then you would say I'm going to say, be careful to someone else, then you would say, TEN-Quido, or more formal using the Ustet form, Tenga, Kuiado. Very well, so, Tengo sueno, I'm sleepy,

Tengu-cuit, I'm careful. Now, we're to practice a little. You'll do a phrase in English, and you have to try to translate it to Spanish. So I'll read a sentence in English, and then you need to translate it into Spanish. Don't worry if you don't know all the words. Just try your best and focus on the expressions we've seen.

The first phrase is, I'm cold this morning because the house is very cold. I'm cold this morning because the house is very cold. That's, Tengo free. I'm cold this morning because the house is very free. I'm free this morning because the

house is very free. Let's go the next. My sister sleepy after working all night. My sister

sleepy after working all night. My hermana has a sweet after to work

all the night. My hermana has a sweet after to

work all the night let's do another one we are hungry after

skiing we are hungry after skiing that is we have we're we're

we we're we're we're we're we're we're going

to go over let's be careful the road is frozen be

careful the road the road is frozen. That's, ten, care, the carreterer is

congelada. Ten care, the carretera is congelada. You could have also used

the more formal version using instead. Tenga Kuitado. The carretera is

congelada. The children are scared with this film. The children are scared with this

film. So, The children have the movie. Los Ninios have Miedo

with this movie. Fantastic. Lo has done phenomenal. If you enjoyed that

translation challenge, remember, you can keep practicing through Translation Challenge

videos or other many types of videos on Coffee Break TV. Head over to

CoffibraktTV dot com or download the Coffee Break TV app where you'll find many

different videos and many types of lessons to help you practice your Spanish. Very bien. Let us make a little resum of what we've learned today. Many everyday expressions that use the verb to be in English are form with Tener to have in Spanish. For example, to be cold is Tener Frio. To be hot is Tener Calor.

To be hungry is Tener Ambre. To be scared is Tener Mied. To be right is Tener Rason. To be lucky is Tener Suer Suerte. To be sleepy is Tener Suech. And finally, to be careful is Tener Cuddle.

Well, well, that's all for today. Muchismas thanks for to listen and, for supposed, much suerty with your

apprenticeship. Until the next and happy coffee coffee break in.