why "i am hungry" is "tengo hambre" instead of "estoy hambre" ?
"i am hungry" is "tengo hambre" i am eating is "estoy comiendo"
are"estoy" and "tengo" same ? 
7 Answers
You can say "estoy hambriento/a".
Why should we be correct and the Spanish wrong. I bet there are countless Spanish students saying,
Why is it "I am hungry" and not "I have hunger".
And no, estoy and tengo are not the same, it's just the way both languages express the fact that a person is hungry in a diffrent manner.
As one of my Spanish teachers once shouted, "There is no why! That's just the way they say it!".
Every language is different. The fact that they have so many similarities is what is amazing, not their differences.
Well, I have hunger is what it literally says. This is an idiomatic expression. Also estoy and tengo are not the same.
I can't answer as to why, or how it started, but in Spanish saying "estoy hambre" translates to something like I am hunger or some other nonsensical thing like that. Same goes for hunger, thirst, cold, heat, etc. There are a plethora of other threads that deal with this topic. If you search "estoy vs. tengo" you can find previous posts on this topic.
But that connotes a level of starvation bordering on malnutrition and disease, I think. Not what you want to express here. - pesta = Sep 26, 2011
So "hambriento/a" is rarely used in everyday speech? Unless you are referring to "starving people?" If one is truly hungry, then me estoy muriendo de hambre should suffice? Just curious, compañeros de estudios...
Because its not "i am hunger" (estoy hambre) but rather "I have hunger" (yo tengo hambre). Unless your name is hunger....
