Spanish: Animals and pets

If you want to describe what pets you have, you can use the verb tener (to have).

If you want to say ‘I have’, you say tengo, for example:

Tengo un perro - I have a dog

Try using tengo to create a sentence with the animals below:

The word ‘remember’ in English has three different ‘e’ sounds - ‘ee’, ‘eh’ and ‘er’.

Unlike English, it is important to know that the ‘e’ sound is always pronounced the same way in Spanish.

For example, un elefante (an elephant) has three e’s that all sound the same.

Here are some more examples of the ‘e’ sound in Spanish:

You can also use colours to describe your pets, for example:

Tengo un perro negro – I have a black dog

Tengo un gato naranja – I have an orange cat

Tengo un ratón blanco – I have a white mouse

As well as your pets at home, you can also try describing your favourite animal in Spanish.

To ask somebody about their favourite animal in Spanish, you can say:

¿Cuál es tu animal favorito? – What is your favourite animal?

You can start your answer with:

Mi animal favorito es… – My favourite animal is…

Try adding some of these animals to the sentence:

You can add more detail to your sentence to say why the animal is your favourite.

To give a reason and to say ‘because’ you can add the conjunctionporque (because), for example:

Mi animal favorito es un león porque es feroz – My favourite animal is a lion because it’s fierce

Take a look at the adjectives below and try to extend your sentence: