How to express I am hungry, thirsty, cold, etc in Spanish

In English, phrases that express when someone is experiencing a sensation or condition such as thirst, hunger, cold, etc are constructed with the verb to be, e.g.,  to express that I am experiencing hunger the English phrase is: I am hungry.


In Spanish we use the verb “to have” to express that someone is experiencing one of those sensations, i.e., in Spanish we possess the condition. For example, in Spanish I am hungry is: Tengo hambre, which literally means “I have hunger” as though I possessed the hunger.

See below a table with the English and Spanish phrases to express the experiencing of different sensations.

I am cold	Tengo frío (literally means I have cold)
I am hot	Tengo calor (literally means I have heat)
I am hungry	Tengo hambre (literally means I have hunger)
I am thirsty	Tengo sed (literally means I have thirst)
I am afraid	Tengo miedo (literally means I have fear)
I am lucky	Tengo suerte (literally means I have luck)