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?
Buenas tardes,
Sólo quiero decir gracias a Shui por todos los ejercicios- 'Daily dose of Positivity'- que nos da.
Son una buena distracción durante este tiempo difícil.
¡Gracias Shui!
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?
Hola,
Bit confused by the stipulation for this. Is it purely down to the speaker’s discretion as to whether a definitive article is required post ‘de’?
I see examples with and examples without and am confused where the line is.
Gracias,
Looks like English translation in the second example is wrong.h
Explain formal and informal
This list is also missing the audio. Thanks!
In: Level B2, Verbs Tenses & Conjugation, Modo indicativo, Modo subjuntivo, Oración subordinada temporal
1. Cuando is always used with past tenses in the indicative ….
2. If we use past tenses in the subjunctive with Cuando …
There appears to be a direct contradiction above:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In statement #1, it is stated that Cuando must be in the indicative mood
in statement #2, it is stated that Cuando may be in the subjunctive mood.
James
I learned the hard way that I shouldn't try to reason it out. Just use aun when there is a preposition.
aun con
aun sin
and even with the clause words, like the lesson says
aun si
aun cuando
Sometimes you just have to use tricks until you have a better understanding of the larger rule!
Hi there, I notice contar wasn’t in this list? Or is it always the case that an -ar- verb ending in “ontar” will change its stem?
Using the example from above:
Tenía que conseguir cualquier trabajo, ya fuera de día o de noche.
I had to get a job, either a day job or a night job.
1) can it be used with MORE than 2 choices?
ex: "I had to get a job, either a day job, a night job, or a part-time job."
and
2) Not sure how ask gramatically... could it also be used in just 1 phrase?ex: "I had to get either a day job or a night job."
Thanks
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