What is the difference between “tengo frío” and “hace frío”?
Jugando en la nieve y teniendo frío
A1 Spanish listening practice · Rioplatense Spanish · Curated for beginners
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tengo frío / hace frío
Spanish cold pattern (person vs weather)
tengo frío = I feel cold (I “have” cold); hace frío = it is cold out (the weather “makes” cold).
Spanish does not say “I am cold” the way English does. To say you feel cold, you use tener (to have): tengo frío, literally “I have cold.” To talk about the weather, you use hacer (to make): hace frío, literally “it makes cold.” So a person has cold and the weather makes cold. Saying estoy frío would sound like you are a cold object.
The clip puts both side by side: Hace frío. Hoy hace frío. Yo tengo frío (“It’s cold. Today it’s cold. I am cold”). First the weather, then the person — the exact pair a beginner needs to keep straight.
From Spanish in Context↗ on YouTube.Watch original
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