Tener (to have) · Preterite
By TutorLily Editorial Team · Last updated
Tener in the Spanish preterite (pretérito indefinido) is: yo tuve, tú tuviste, él/ella/usted tuvo, nosotros/as tuvimos, vosotros/as tuvisteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes tuvieron. The preterite of tener uses the irregular stem 'tuv-' and is a classic 'pretérito grave' (no accent marks). It describes a possession, age, or state that began or ended at a defined past moment.
| To Have | Tener |
|---|---|
| I had | yo tuve |
| you had | tú tuviste |
| he/she had | él/ella/usted tuvo |
| we had | nosotros/as tuvimos |
| you had | vosotros/as tuvisteis |
| they had | ellos/ellas/ustedes tuvieron |
Tener (to have) in context
Sentences that use tener in the preterite. Tap each to hear it.
I had to work the whole weekend.
You were very lucky yesterday.
My sister had a baby in May.
We had an important conversation.
You had problems with the car.
The boys had to wait two hours.
Working with the preterite
The preterite describes a finished past action with a clear boundary — "ayer comí pizza" (yesterday I ate pizza). The key contrast is with the imperfect, which describes ongoing or repeated past actions without a defined endpoint. If you can substitute "used to" or "was doing" in English, you usually want the imperfect; if the action is one-and-done, you want the preterite. The irregular preterites (fui, hice, dije, tuve, vine, supe) are the highest-frequency in Spanish — front-load them.
Frequently asked questions
How do you conjugate tener in the preterite?
When do I use 'tuve' instead of 'tenía'?
What does 'tuve que' + infinitive mean?
Practice Tener (To Have) in real conversations
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