Understanding Verb Mastery If you teach languages, you will probably recognise this scenario. A pupil has learnt the verb to have. In French, they can chant j’ai, tu as, il/elle a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont with impressive confidence; in Spanish, tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen. They might even get every answer right in a verb test. Then you ask Tu as des frères et sœurs ? or ¿Tienes hermanos? and there is a pause while they desperately search for a f