What is the difference between llevar and tener?

Question

I know they both mean ' to have' but i'm doing Rosetta stone right now and I am wondering what the difference is.

Thank you!

Answer 1

i know they both mean ' to have' but i'm doing Rosetta stone right now and i am wondering what the difference is.

Thank you!

If you will review Unit 1 Lesson 2 Core Lesson, panel 16, the example sentences and images represent pretty well the meaning of Tener. For example, from the material:

1. Ella tiene un perro (She has a dog)
2. Él tiene un gato (He has a cat)
3. Ellos tienen un periódico (They have a newspaper)

They are all in possession of something (the dog, the cat and the newspaper). Another example is panel 30 in that same lesson (the boy has milk, the boy doesn't have milk). In all of these examples they all show a person in possession of something (or not), they are not carrying anything.

Lesson 3 Core teaches even more using the verb Tener.

In Lesson 4 Core you are introduced to the verb Llevar, as in wearing clothes, not carrying them or possessing them. If you look at the photos demonstrating *La mujer lleva _____, you can see they are clearly not the same as the verb Tener For example, from Panel 23 Unit 1 Lesson 4 Core:

1. La niña lleva camiseta.
2. El niño no lleva camiseta.

Of course, as the lessons progress you get into more of the varied uses of Tener and Llevar, but if you review these sections I think it may help.

I hope that this is some help for you.

wonderful explanation, custom made! - mountaingirl123, Jun 15, 2010

Answer 2

Actually, they don't both mean "to have." Llevar means "to carry," while tener means "to have."

Answer 3

Hi, Phi Tran.

Maybe you are thinking about the structure "How long have you been...(doing something)". In that case they are used interchangeably: "¿Cuánto tiempo llevas estudiando español?" is the same as ¿Cuánto tiempo tienes estudiando español?"

No other examples of interchangeability come to mind.

Answer 4

Hi phi_tran!

I'd had a question about those 2 verbs as well. After running a Forum Search, I found the following link, which helped clear up a couple of things for me. Here's the link: link text

Hope it helps!

Answer 5

llevar - to carry, to take. se lo llevaron a texas

tener - to have. tengo que estudiar

haber de - to have. (formal way of tener) he de estudiar

deber (de) - should. Deben ser las 4. it must be 4

deber is more common than deber de

Answer 6

Llevar means to take ( que vas a llevar a la fiesta). Tener means to have ( yo tengo dos perros)

Answer 7

They are Swiss Army Knife type words, with a multitude of meanings. Some of those meanings are similar, but not a lot of them. If I just see the word tener I think to have, and if I see llevar I think to carry, but those are only two of the many meanings they may have under various circumstances.