Miscellaneous - 'to have' used as 'to be'

SPANISH




The above examples were collected from textbooks. Just for fun, I decided to run samples through my translator (L&H Power Translator Pro v. 6.43) to see what it said. It added a definite article ('el' or 'la') to some, and it sometimes used "to be" instead of "to have".

  • Él tiene miedo. He is afraid.
  • Usted tiene el cuidado. You are careful.
  • Ella tiene el frío. She is cold.
  • Yo tengo el calor. I am hot.
  • Ellos tienen hambre. They are hungry.
  • Nosotros estamos sedientos. We are thirsty.
  • Ella tiene celos. She is jealous.
  • Él está cansado. He is tired.

    It is somewhat disconcerting to a student, after working to learn a rule, to find that there are cracks and holes in it. We learned to say "Me llamo Helen Smith", and if I said "Mi nombre es Helen Smith", my wonderful teacher would have given me that kind smile that says "That was wrong, you need to try harder." And so one fine day when watching "Destinos", a long-running television series to teach Spanish, someone says "Mi nombre es ...".

    Hey, my Composition II teacher at Truman State said it well:

    "You have to learn the rules before you can break them."