Estoy vs Tengo

Question

I am a beginner in espanol and would like to know for example why Tengo frio is used and Estoy frio is not..?..thanks

Answer 1

Tener is used with some descriptions and you just have to learn those.

Estar is used with others, but it is very important to know the difference because some can have double meanings.

Memorize the most common ones that you use with tener and then you can use estar for the others. Sometimes there is another verb 'ser' that also takes certain descriptors. This is just one area that is much more complicated in Spanish than English.

Answer 2

"Tengo frio" is used when it's cold (weather) and you feel that. "Estoy frio" is when you are cold, but it's not because of the weather.

Answer 3

What Katy said. The real lesson here, is that other languages often come at a way of expressing things, at an angle different from what we're accustomed to, and accepting that often, the answer will be the intellectually unsatisfying "just because that's how they do it"

Slightly less generally, there are many things that native english speakers "are" that native Spanish (and in my experience, also German) speakers "have"

I am hunger. Tengo hambre. I am thirstly. Tengo sed. I am scared. Tengo miedo. I am forty years old. Tengo cuarenta años I am sleepy. Tengo sueño. I am cold. Tengo frio.

etc. Etc.

As Katy said, you just have to learn those circumstances, and go with them. It just I S. (not to go too existential on you)

hth roger

You can say estoy hambriente, but it is less common. - BigMike, Mar 11, 2013

Answer 4

thanks for the replies..I was told by a native Dominican that Estoy frio makes no sense?..is this true?..Are tengo frio..tengo sed..tengo miedo..etc exceptions and its just something you have to learn to know?...like katydew has explained..