Past tense of "deber" Spanish speakers seem to habitually use the imperfect tense for "deber" where English speakers would use the past tense, e.g.,
"Paul owed her his life" => "Pablo le debía la vida" instead of "Pablo le debió la vida"
"You guys must've figured something out" => "Debíais haber descubierto algo" instead of "Debisteis haber haber descubierto algo"
... and sometimes where English speakers would use the present tense, e.g., "But the Lord said he must go to Ninevah" => "Pero el Señor insistió en que debía ir a Nínive" instead of "Pero el Señor insistió en que debe ir a Nínive."
They also use the imperfect in situations that seem to call for a past-tense conditional ("should have"):
Si querías baile, debías haber recurrido a mí => If you wanted dancing, you should have come to me
I would have expected "Si querías baile, deberías haber recurrido a mí" (should have). Sometimes I do see "deberías haber" for "should have", and I can't see any pattern to why one is chosen instead of the other.
In some cases, the imperfect is used where the present-tense conditional seems clearly called for, e.g., "debias esperar hasta que llamara" for "you should wait until he calls." There's nothing past-tense-ish about that sentence.
"deberían" ('they should") in particular is used interchangeably with "debían" (literally "in the past they must"), and neither is used for past-tense "they should have".
Can someone explain how Spanish speakers conceptualize these tenses of "deber"? Does the choice of tense work the same way for "deber" as "owe" and "deber" as "must", or are they treated differently?
Please provide clearer explanation of rule, 'Don't mix the indefinite adjective algún with the indefinite pronoun alguno. You can never use alguno with a noun!'. Thank you
I had the correct answer to the question below........until I read the hint which totalaly confused me as "Retrasar" was present in gerundial form in one of the possible choices.
Choose the right sentence in Spanish for "Come on, don't fall behind!":HINT: retrasarse = to fall behind¡A no retrasando!¡Vamos, no os retrasáis!¡Andando que os retrasáis!¡Estéis retrasados!Hola Inma,
I' m a bit confused with the articles. Why not el Salvador Dalí era un pintor? In a lesson of yours I read:
El Quijote fue escrito por Miguel de Cervantes.
El señor López era muy valorado por todos los vecinos.
Te agradezco mucho tus respuestas muy útiles!
Ελισάβετ
Hola a todos,
I think I’m right in saying that, “Uno debe cuidar bien a sus amigos...” means “One/you must/look after/care for your friends...”. Is ‘uno debe’ just an alternative to ‘se debe’?
I also wanted to ask about the use of ‘lo suyo’ in this passage. In the context here does it mean ‘it’s their thing/it’s up to them/ it’s their job to make me laugh...’?
I enjoyed this exercise, gracias! :)
1. Ese dibujo parece bueno. Enséñamelo, por favor.
2. Ese dibujo parece bueno. Me lo enseñas, por favor.
What is the difference between these two options? Why is the second one incorrect? To me they both sound acceptable. Thanks
Hello, is there some connotation needed for this to trigger the Preterite? Like "These two centuries out of the 5000 years we're talking about"? Or at least "These two very specific centuries"? As opposed to "For two full centuries, which is pretty much forever", where I would have expected the Imperfect.
Is ‘desde que légué less formal?
¿________ miraron los bolsos al entrar en el concierto? (Did they check their bags when entering the concert?
The 2 correct answers were, "A ellas les" and "Les"
==========================================
Why is ellas used with the masculine object, los bolsos?
Thank you, James
Spanish speakers seem to habitually use the imperfect tense for "deber" where English speakers would use the past tense, e.g.,
"Paul owed her his life" => "Pablo le debía la vida" instead of "Pablo le debió la vida"
"You guys must've figured something out" => "Debíais haber descubierto algo" instead of "Debisteis haber haber descubierto algo"
... and sometimes where English speakers would use the present tense, e.g., "But the Lord said he must go to Ninevah" => "Pero el Señor insistió en que debía ir a Nínive" instead of "Pero el Señor insistió en que debe ir a Nínive."
They also use the imperfect in situations that seem to call for a past-tense conditional ("should have"):
Si querías baile, debías haber recurrido a mí => If you wanted dancing, you should have come to me
I would have expected "Si querías baile, deberías haber recurrido a mí" (should have). Sometimes I do see "deberías haber" for "should have", and I can't see any pattern to why one is chosen instead of the other.
In some cases, the imperfect is used where the present-tense conditional seems clearly called for, e.g., "debias esperar hasta que llamara" for "you should wait until he calls." There's nothing past-tense-ish about that sentence.
"deberían" ('they should") in particular is used interchangeably with "debían" (literally "in the past they must"), and neither is used for past-tense "they should have".
Can someone explain how Spanish speakers conceptualize these tenses of "deber"? Does the choice of tense work the same way for "deber" as "owe" and "deber" as "must", or are they treated differently?
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