Wednesday, 30 November 2016

List of expressions where the verb 'to be' means 'tener'

Translating is not sometimes effective in English. Here you have some examples : 
  • To be eighteen years old to have eighteen years oldtener dieciocho años
  • To be hungry  to have hungertener hambre
  • To be thirsty to have thirsttener sed
  • To be successful to have success: tener éxito
  • To be unsuccessful not to have success: no tener éxito
  • To be careful to have care: tener cuidado
  • To be envious to have envy: tener envidia
  • To be afraid to have feartener miedo
  • To be right to have reasontener razón
  • To be wrong not to have reason: no tener razón/equivocarse
  • To be lucky to have lucktener suerte
  • To be unlucky not to have luck: no tener suerte/tener mala suerte
  • To be sleepy to have dream: tener sueño
  • To be cold to have coldtener frío
  • To be hot to have heattener calor
  • To be logical to have logictener lógica
  • To be illogical not to have logic : no tener lógica
  • To be tricky to have tricktener truco/tener trampa
  • To be in trouble/to have a problem: tener problemas
  • To be in pain to have pain: tener dolor
  • To be in control to have control: tener control
As seen in the previous examples, the verb 'to be' is used since we are not dealing with possession: we don't possess the age or the hunger. Spanish seems illogical in that aspect. 

The verb 'to be' in English can sometimes replace the verb 'hacer' in Spanish:
  • It's cold it does coldhace frío 
  • It's hot it does heathace calor
  • it's sunny it does sunhace sol
  • it's windy it does windhace viento
The verb 'to be' is also used to replace other verbs in Spanish. This is used with the structure: subject + verb 'to be' + number + measure unit + adjective (the same structure used to talk about our age):
  • am two metres tall: mido dos metros.
  • This building is forty metres high: este edificio mide cuarenta metros.
  • the lake is two metres deep: el lago mide dos metros de profundidad.
  • my house is twenty metres long: mi casa mide veinte metros de largo.
  • this car is 200 kilometres fast: este coche va a 200 kilómetros hora.
  • my computer is one hundred centimetres wide: mi ordenador mide doscientos centímetros de ancho.
  • the station is two kilometres far from my house: la estación está a dos kilómetros de mi casa/dista dos kilómetros de mi casa.
  • my fridge is minus twenty degrees cold: el frigorífico tiene una temperatura de menos veinte grados
OK, I hope you can learn some of these expressions. 
Enjoy it.

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