Tiene el tamaño de un huevo?
I thought tiene meant he/she but according to the web site I was on this sentence means "it is the size of an egg." Can anyone explain why Tiene suddenly becomes "it" in place of eso or esto? Thanks
Later... Thanks for all the answers I believe the web site that was teaching me was wrong. I also translated this sentence into Do you have the size of a egg. They give me a wrong answer because according to them it mean "It is a size of an egg". Or "it's the size of an egg." Again being that I never heard tiene used for "it is a" I was was very confused. Thanks for your time.
7 Answers
¿Tiene el tamaño de un huevo? = Do you have the size of an egg?
I'm confused about your question
It is the size of an egg - (ello) es del tamaño de un huevo.
(ello/él/ella) tiene el tamaño de un huevo - (it/he/she) has the size of an egg
but in Spanish depending on the context either we use "eso(that)" instead "it(ello)" or we just don't use anything. e.g
"it's the size of an egg" -"es del tamaño de un huevo"
"it has the size of an egg" - "Eso tiene el tamaño de un huevo" or "Tiene el tamaño de un huevo"
but I believe that I did not understand the question so better wait for another reply 
You are confused about the meaning of 'tiene'.
Check out this conjugation page for the verb tener and you will understand it better. 
Is it the size of an egg = Es del tamaño de un huevo?
Tiene el tamaño de un huevo? = Does it have the size of an egg?
Does it help?
Hello Growabeard
Welcome to the SpanishDict forum. )
You asked,
I thought tiene meant he/she but according to the web site I was on this sentence means "it is the size of an egg." Can anyone explain why Tiene suddenly becomes "it" in place of eso or esto? Thanks
Firstly, the word tiene comes from the verb tener = to have (The principal verb meaning to have , possess, own)
It is important to understand/remember that:
The conjugation tiene can be translated: he has / she has, you have (Ud polite form ) and is the 3rd person singular form which is also used to signify the impersonal form it has
Whereas, in English, we say it is the size of an egg, the Spanish often (but not always) say: Tiene el tamaño de un huevo. = It is (literally has) the size of an egg = (ello).
.This is because we would not really say (In UK anyway) it has the size of an egg!
You could also say: Es del temaño de un huevo. = It is the size of an egg
However, it does depend on the context as Pablo rightly says...it all depends on what you want or are trying to say! 
I believe that the word tiene can carry the meaning it has without the need for the word ello =it) which I have purposely placed in brackets!
I hope this helps (is what you were asking/wanting to know!) 
There are many verbs that can be translated as "to be" in English. The most obvious are ser and estar. But tener also can be translated as "to be". There are others as well although I cannot think of any right now.
Type Tener into the translator and "to be" is one of the basic translations.
As to the "it" part. Spanish generally does not have a nueter like English. If a thing can be identified then it has a gender. But those things that cannot be identified are nueter is Spanish as well. So the third person singular is normally thought of as he/she/you(formal; it also include "it".
In Spanish tener (to have) is used in many cases where in English we would use the verb "to be" ... for example .. In english we will say ,, I am hungry ,, but in spanish we will say "tengo hambre" ( I have hunger), like wise ,, in english ,, I am 35 years old ,, but in spanish ,, tengo 35 años (I have 35 years), similarly,, are you thirsty? Tienes sed (do you have thirst?) .. and similarly ,, you are right ,, tienes razón (you have reason) .. So now you can appreciate that in a lot of contexts whereas the english employs the verb "to be" (am, are, is etc.) The spanish would rather use the verb "tener" (to have) .... so likewise ... tiene el tamaño de un huevo .. means .. it has the size of an egg .. ir it is the size of an egg ..
And as far as eso and esto are concened .. tney are demonstrative pronouns and you can use them along with the sentence you have mentioned above..
You can say ... ésto tiene el tamaño de un huevo (this one is the size of an egg) or eso tiene el tamaño de un huevo .. that one is the size of an egg ..
Hope this helps
