ter

Irregular: tenho, tem, temos, têm in the present (têm, with the circumflex, is the plural and sounds like tem), tive and teve in the past, tinha in the imperfect. Ter que or ter de with an infinitive means “to have to”: tenho que trabalhar. In Brazilian speech ter also means “there is” or “there are” — tem um café aqui perto — where writing uses há. With a past participle it makes the past perfect: tinha feito, “had done”. Manter, conter and obter conjugate like it, with an accent: mantém, mantêm.

Examples

• Tem muita gente na fila.

  There are a lot of people in the line.

• Tive que sair mais cedo ontem.

  I had to leave early yesterday.

• Quando eu tiver tempo, vou te visitar.

  When I have time, I'll visit you.

Related verbs

• haver — there is
• ser — to be
• estar — to be
• poder — can, to be able to

Mostly found in writing. In speech Brazilians use the forms above instead.