I have a...

Question

I have a car.

Tengo coche.

or

Tengo un coche.

The way I understand it is that the first is correct, because the latter could also mean, "I have one car", and could be confusing.

¿Tienes un coche? --> No, tengo dos coches.

¿Tienes coche? --> Sí, tengo coche.

Good question! - rabbitwho, Sep 4, 2011

good one Tosh, I didnt know that - billygoat, Sep 4, 2011

Yes, really good question! :D - PrincessMariam, Sep 4, 2011

Always good questions,Tosh. keep it up. - heliotropeman, Sep 4, 2011

wow I didn't know that. Thank you, Tosh! - SpanishPal, Sep 4, 2011

Answer 1

Hi, Tosh!

I'd say that the normal thing is to express "I have a car" is to say tengo coche, which is a complete sentence.

I'd only add the indefinite article if I wanted to say something about that car in question. I could have only one car, or more than one.

Tengo un coche. (...?) doesn't look like a complete sentence.

Tengo un coche que se estropea cada dos por tres.

Tengo un coche bastante antiguo

¿Tienes un coche? doesn't sound natural, either. Although it's grammatically correct, it's a weird question to ask. To ask about the number of cars you have, you would ask:

¿Tienes solo un coche? -No, tengo dos.

or, more frecuently:

¿Cuántos coches tienes? -Uno.

Good answer, ma'am! Dead cats can be really helpful. :P - SpanishPal, Sep 4, 2011

Thanks, Laura! - --Mariana--, Sep 4, 2011

Sí, muchas gracias Laura :) - EL_MAG0, Sep 4, 2011

Answer 2

The person has one car/telephone/...:

¿Tienes coche? --> Sí.

¿Tienes un coche? --> ¿Por qué? ¿Cuántos quieres que tenga?

¿Tienes teléfono? --> Sí.

¿Tienes un teléfono? --> Sí, está ahí.

The person has two cars:

¿Tienes coche? --> Sí. Tengo dos.

¿Tienes un coche? --> No, tengo dos.

¿Tienes teléfono? --> Sí. Hay uno en la cocina y otro en el salón.

¿Tienes un teléfono? --> Bueno, tengo dos: uno en la cocina y otro en el salón.

This omission of the indefinite article is normal with things that people are likely to have in a modern society, when the key thing is whether you can use them, not how many do you exactly have.

Answer 3

We use the expression "tengo coche" if you don´t want to specify the quantity, only the fact I have a car. If you want to say that you have only one car, then you have to say "tengo un coche"

gracias Peinadin, I didnt know that - billygoat, Sep 4, 2011

Answer 4

if we say "tengo coche" means "i have a car" does this also mean that when we refer to other countable nouns,we shouldn't add the indefinite article?