Secretaria Bilingûe

Se habrá ido a cenar Probably He went to have dinner

El ya debe estar durmiendo He is probably sleeping yet or He has to be sleeping

Debe de haber There must be


Using 'Deber'Common Verb Used To Express Obligation, Strong Likelihood

The verb deber is quite common and can be used to express obligation or likelihood.

Expressing obligation: When used in this way, deber isfrequently similar in meaning to the English "must," "should" or "ought":

• Debes estudiar tus lecciones. You ought to study your lessons.
• ¿Que carro debo comprar? Which car should I buy?
•Alguien debería hablar de todo esto. Someone will have to talk about all this.
• Son las palabras que no debiste decir. You shouldn't have said those words.
• No debe dormirse después de comer. Heshouldn't go to sleep after eating.
The tone of deber to express obligation can be softened by using the conditional form instead of the present tense, although the difference isn't always translatable.When telling someone what he or she should be doing, using the conditional can come across as more polite:
• No deberías abrir un blog si vas a hablar de temas personales. You shouldn't start a blogif you're going to talk about personal subjects.
• La fuerza aerea debería comprar mejores aviones de combate. The air force should buy better combat planes.
When used with a noun directobject, deber can usually be translated as "owe."
• No me debes nada. You don't owe me anything.
• El gobierno le debe más de $3 millones a mi madre. The government owes my mother more than $3 million.Expressing strong probability: The phrase debes de is used to refer to a strong likelihood. In such cases, it is often the equivalent of the English "must" when "must" isn't used to express obligation:
•No debiste de firmar nada. You must not have signed anything.
• Debo de ser anormal. I must be abnormal.
• Deben de estar en buena condición. In all likelihood, they are in good condition.
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