ter
Portuguese, verb/ˈte(ʁ)/
ter is a Portuguese verb meaning “to own; to possess; to have; to have got” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “acompanhado de verbo no particípio regular, indica ação passada”.
What does ter mean in English?
verb
- 1
to own; to possess; to have; to have got
Tenho uma bela casa.
- 2
to be rich, to have plenty of money; or, to have enough money to live comfortably
Os caridosos sempre ajudam os que menos têm.
- 3
to have as a component or to consist of
Esta frase tem cinco palavras.
- 4
to have (to be related in some way to, with the object identifying the relationship)
Este livro tem dono.
- 5
to be in possession of; to have as part of one’s personal effects; to have in hand
O senhor tem a sua carteira?
- 6
to consist of a certain amount of units of measurement
Tenho quarenta anos.
- 7
to have a certain characteristic
Este jogo não tem graça.
- 8
to be afflicted with a certain disease or other medical condition
Tens um resfriado.
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
verb: 1. acompanhado de verbo no particípio regular, indica ação passada 2. denota posse 3. segurar 4. levar à existência; gerar
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of ter
- tenho first-person present singular
- tive first-person preterite singular
- tido participle past
- teres infinitive second-person singular
- termos first-person infinitive plural
- terdes infinitive plural second-person
- terem infinitive plural third-person
- tendo gerund
- tidos masculine participle past
- tida feminine participle past
- tidas feminine participle past
- tens indicative present second-person
- tem indicative present singular
- temos first-person indicative plural
- tendes indicative plural present
- têm indicative plural present
- tinha first-person imperfect indicative
- tinhas imperfect indicative second-person
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce ter?
- Brazil /ˈte(ʁ)/
- Brazil [ˈte(h)]
- /ˈte(ɾ)/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to ter
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ter in Portuguese?
ter appears 1,549 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).