Have, has, had... help!

Hola. RT here.

Today's question: Have (and it's varients). I'm pretty good on the basic stuff:

I have 100 Soles: Yo tengo cien soles.
Do you have one hour free?: Tiene una hora libre?

But there's lots of other versions of 'tengo".

There's tenir, tienes, and a bunch more. And then there's past tenses, too. I think that there's 'tuve' somewhere, but that's not enough.

I get more and more tired of sounding like a four-year-old. Can someone please help us out?

Thanks.

 

Let's see if I can help.

To Have, as a verb, translates always as Tener; the problem is that, in Spanish, verbs are declined acording to person, time and mode. Let's see the basic:

Present:
I have = yo tengo
You have = tu tienes (Or the more formal way: Usted tiene)
He/She has = El/Ella tiene
It has = Tiene
We have = Tenemos (Also: Nosotros tenemos)
You have = Tienen (Also: Ustedes tienen)
They have = Tienen (Also: Ellos/Ellas tienen)

Past:
I had = Yo tenía (And I might still have... or not) / Yo tuve (And I don't have anymore)
And likewise...
You had = Tu tenías / tu tuviste (Or the more formal way: Usted tenía / Usted tuvo)
He/She had = El/Ella tenía / El/Ella tuvo
It had = Tenía / Tuvo
We had = Teníamos (Also: Nosotros teníamos) / Tuvimos (Also: Nosotros tuvimos)
You had = Tenían (Also: Ustedes tenían) / Tuvieron (Also: Ustedes tuvieron)
They had = Tenían (Also: Ellos/Ellas tenían) / Tuvieron (Also: Nosotros tuvieron)

And also there is... to have had = Haber tenido (he tenido, has tenido, ha tenido, han tenido)

.....

Too much to have???? Diablito

 

Yo tengo a headache. :bangin:

 

OK, how about these:

Does she have a younger sister?
Did she have condoms?

Do you have a younger sister?
Did you have condoms?

Thank you.

 

Does she have a younger sister? = ¿Tiene ella una hermana menor?
Did she have condoms? = ¿Tenía ella condones?

Do you have a younger sister? = ¿Tienes una hermana menor?
Did you have condoms? = ¿Tenías condones?

(There is no need to say ¿Tienes tú...? or ¿Tenías tú...? because 'tienes' can 0nly be used with 'tú')

Of course, if you are not talking about condoms or a younger sister you might not want to use the familiar 'tu' but the more polite 'usted'. In that case:

Do you have...? = ¿Tiene usted...?
Did you have...? = ¿Tenía usted...?

 

VERY INTERESTING QUESTION INDEED.

I, personally, never take a "It just is" kind of answer if I can help it and I like when other people doesn't either. So here is the explanation:

'Usted' is a respectful way of addressing a person and is nothing but a modern evolution of the medieval 'Vuestra Merced'. It translates, literally, as 'Your Mercy' which is the medieval version of 'Your Honor' and in Spanish, just as in English, while 'you' is second person 'your honor' is third person.

Therefore the rule aplies to all instances where 'Usted' is used instead of 'tu' and, yes, you say 'Usted habla', 'Usted come', 'Usted habló', 'Usted comió' etc.

Also note that, when you write, you always write 'Usted' with a capital 'U' (just another way to denote respect); rule that doesn't apply to the plural of the second person, 'ustedes', which does not require a capital 'U'.