Spanish language Q&A Forum

To say "He must have closed the door.", does one simply switch to the present indicative of deber and say "Él debe haber cerrado la puerta." or can one stay with the simple conditional and say "Debería haber cerrado la puerta." and translate it into English as must or should, depending on context?

I think this issue boils down to trying to know when to translate deber as "should" or as "must". ¿Puedes ayudarme?

Is the se here like the accidental se? Is there a broader pattern here that I am missing? Are there a set number of pronomial verbs that follow this structure? Usually when I see Se at the end of a verb I think, okay this needs to be used reflexively, se and the verb agree with each other and are usually variable and not fixed in the singular/plural third person or paired with an indirect pronoun as in this lesson. Does the verb being transitive or intransitive have any bearing on the use of the indirect object pronouns? 

Thanks,

Devin

'Then there is my beloved sister Luisa'

The answer is given as 'Luego está mi querida hermana' 

I have never seen estar used instead of haber to say 'there is' so could you please explain the usage here

Gracias

Hello,  

There have been a number of questions in different topic areas along the lines of “Why don’t we use the present progressive tense for such and such an example in Spanish when the English translation is in the present progressive tense?”  An example might be “Compro unas playeras” being translated as “I am buying some t-shirts”.  

The answer that the instructors give is usually along the lines of, the Spanish present tense can often be translated as the present progressive tense in English. 

In addition, I rarely hear the present progressive tense being used from day to day here in Mexico.  Google AI agrees with me:

"In Mexican Spanish, the present indicative (voy) is significantly more common for everyday use than the present progressive (estoy yendo). While both can describe actions happening in the moment, the simple present is the "default" choice in most social contexts." 

In the kwiz questions I keep answering using the present tense, just out of habit. It's not that I don't know how to use the present progressive tense, it's just that I'm not used to hearing it. This habiit is so strong that sometimes I even miss the instructions.

So maybe the present tense answers shouldn't always be marked wrong, and trigger words such as "en este momento" should be used more often?  Also, maybe this idea could be added to the above lesson.

PS You may wonder why I'm studying level A1 if I already speak Spanish daily. It is because I want to strengthen my foundation and in general Kwiziq has been invaluable with this.

In view of the "TIP" in this lesson, would the translation of the last of the examples (¿Ustedes acaban de hablar con el jefe?) be better as: HAD you just spoken to the boss?  rather than;  HAVE you just spoken to the boss?

I'm guessing that we can use other verbs of movement the same way? 

Regreso a terminar mis estudios. (I came back to finish my studies).

Corro a comprar leche a la esquina. (I'm running to buy milk at the corner (store)).

Thanks.