The Verb Ter in Portuguese

In Portuguese, the verb Ter is equivalent to the English verb Have, and it plays a crucial role in expressing possession and forming the Perfect tenses:

Tenho três filhos.
I have three kids.

Ela já tinha estado no Canadá.
She had been to Canada already.

Conjugation  

Ter is one of the most commonly used verbs and, as is the case with several other high-frequency verbs, it has an irregular conjugation:   

	Present Presente	Preterite Pretérito Perfeito	Imperfect Pretérito Imperfeito
Eu	tenho	tive	tinha
Tu	tens	tiveste	tinhas
Você Ele, ela	tem	teve	tinha
Nós	temos	tivemos	tínhamos
Vocês Eles, elas	têm	tiveram	tinham

Usage you’d expect

Expressing possession

As already mentioned, ter shares the same basic meaning of the English verb have:

Tenho 3 filhos. I have 3 kids. Eles têm muito tempo livre. They have a lot of free time.

Forming Perfect tenses

Like have, ter is used as an auxiliary verb to form Perfect tenses*:

Ela já tinha estado no Canadá. She had already been to Canada.

* It is also possible to form perfect tenses with haver: Verb ‘Haver’ in Portuguese.

Expressing a must

The phrase ter de is the Portuguese equivalent of having to, which expresses a must or an obligation: 

Tens de parar de beber se quiseres salvar o teu casamento. You have to stop drinking if you are to save your marriage.

Usage that might surprise you

Talking about age

We use ter in contexts where English calls to verbs other than have. For instance, when talking about age:

Ela tem 42 anos. She’s 44 years old. Que idade tem o Ricardo? How old is Ricardo?

Expressing physiological states

Unlike English, we use ter to talk about physiological states. In that case, the verb is followed by a noun:

– Tens calor? – Pelo contrário, tenho frio. – Are you hot? – On the contrary, I am cold.

– Tens fome? – Sim, tenho fome e sede. – Are you hungry? – Yes, I am hungry and thirsty.

Go and meet someone

Distinctively enough, it is common to hear the structure ir/vir + ter + com in contexts where people arrange meet-ups or refer to past meetings. 

Here’s an example where two people try to fix a meeting:

– A que horas podes vir ter comigo? – Posso ir ter contigo depois das 17h. – What time can we meet? – We can meet after 5 pm.

Here’s another example where someone talks about another person she met on that day:

Hoje fui ter com a Paula e tomamos um café. Today I met Paula and we went for a coffee.

A few idiomatic expressions with ter

Here’re a few popular idioms with ter:

1	ter jeito para	Ele tem jeito para o piano. He’s got a knack for playing the piano.
2	ter muito que se lhe diga	Este tema tem muito que se lhe diga. This topic is quite complex.
3	ter lata	É preciso ter lata! You’ve got to have a lot of nerve!
4	ter pinta	Ela tem pinta! She is stylish!
5	ter pena	Tenho pena! I’m sorry!
6	ter paciência	Tem paciência! Be patient!
7	ter hipótese	Não tens hipótese nenhuma! You don’t stand a chance!
8	ter a ver com	Não tem nada a ver com isso. It has nothing to do with that.
9	ter à vontade	Ela tem muito à vontade em falar em público. She feels very comfortable speaking in public.
10	ter os seus quês	Isto tem os seus quês… This is not that simple…

Learn more about other frequently used Portuguese irregular verbs: Portuguese Irregular Verbs Students Need to Learn as Soon as Possible.