Power up the Portuguese verb TER

By James Hall / / (2) Beginning Portuguese
Portuguese verb TER

Portuguese verb TER is the one you're going to use more than any other.

TER

To have.

But it can also be used as: is there / are there any.
PRONOUNCED: tair

TER: the Present Tense

to have ter
I have eu t enho
you/he/she have(has) você/ele/ela t em

Portuguese verb TER is among the Brazilian top-10 verbs:
dar, dizer, estar, fazer, ir, perder, poder, querer, saber, ser, ter, trazer
It's conjugation very irregular.

Eu tenho uma reserva. I have a reservation.
Ela tem uma ideia. She has an idea.
Você tem o jornal de hoje? Do you have today's newspaper?
Tem uma mesa aqui? Is there a table here?

*** The last example is used to ask, is there?
tem?
tem!
PRONOUNCED: teng

More examples of TER expressing is there/there are:
Na próxima rua tem um banco. There's a bank on the next street.
Tem internet aqui? Is there internet here?

HAVER does the same job but: Brazilians mainly use TER.

The first whole sentence that I spoke in Brazil was, Você tem o jornal aqui?. Do you have newspaper here?. I was very nervous.

TER: saying "to have to"

Using the Portuguese verb TER to express to have to is similar to English. You just need to remember to include the que right after TER.

Eu tenho que ir. I have to go.
Você vai ter que pagar. You're going to have to pay.
Ela tem que entender. She has to understand.

More examples of TER + que.

TER: saying "to be able to/ have a way to"

Ele tem como pagar? » Can he pay?
Não tem como prever. » You can't predict. (*also: There's no way to predict.)
Eu tenho como, sim. » Yes I can.

TER in context

In the next post we'll talk about the superpowers of the verb TER.