Describing someone with "tener" and description vocabulary

Tener with characteristics

Tener=To have

Tengo-I have

Tienes-You have

TIene-He has/She has/It has AND (formal) You have

Tenemos-We have

Tienen- They have AND you all have

Describing someone

To say he or she has a certain characteristic, we use "tiene"

Examples:

He has freckles=

Él tiene las pecas.

OR

Tiene las pecas.

Examples

She has brown eyes:

Ella tiene los ojos marrones.

OR

Tiene los ojos marrones.

Describing others

"Tiene" on its on implies "He has" or "She has" so it can be used with or without the Spanish words for he (él) or she (ella).

Multiple Choice

Which description would be true for Oscar?

• Tiene el pelo largo

• Tiene la barba

• Tiene las gafas

• Tiene el pelo rojo

Oscar tiene las gafas.

"Oscar tiene las gafas" simply says "Oscar has glasses.

Even though "tiene" is understood to say "he has" on its own, when used with a person's name, you omit the "he" or "she" automatically.

Multiple Choice

How would we describe Lenora?

• Tiene los frenillos

• Tiene los ojos verdes

• Tiene el pelo rubio

• Tiene el pelo corto

Lenora tiene los ojos verdes.

Just like before, saying "Lenora tiene los ojos verdes" is just saying "Lenora has green eyes".

Practicamos

Now let's practice having you write a description about people based on their picture and using vocabulary.

Open Ended

Write a description of Eugenio using "tiene" to say "he has" and adding one of our tener descriptions.

Example answers

Eugenio tiene el pelo rojo.

Eugenio tiene el bigote.

Eugenio tiene la barba.

Tiene pelo corto.

Tiene los ojos azules.

And another thing...

You could also describe what someone doesn't have by saying "no tiene"

Examples:

No tiene pelo negro.

No tiene pelo largo.

Eugenio no tiene las gafas.

Open Ended

Describe Soledad with one of our tener descriptions.

Example answers:

Tiene las gafas.

Soledad tiene el pelo corto.

Tiene el pelo gris.

Open Ended

Describe a characteristic that Soledad DOES NOT have using our vocabulary.

Example answers

No tiene el pelo moreno.

No tiene la barba.

Soledad no tiene el bigote.

No tiene los frenillos.