deber vs. debería

Gerald R.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

deber vs. debería

It has been suggested to me that "deber" in the present tense (and other tenses as well) can be best translated as "must" and that "debería" (in the conditional tense) can be best translated as "should". Is this a reasonable supposition, or would you prefer to put forth a better way of translating this (sometimes enigmatic) verb?

Asked 2 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Gerald 

The modal verb "deber" generally means "must", that's right.  And in the conditional: "debería" the equivalent is "should".

Here are these two Kwiziq lessons to see this in detail:

Using deber, poder, querer in Spanish + infinitive to express must, can, to want to 

Using deber to say should in Spanish

But if you click here, where you can read some information about modal verbs in general and scroll down, you'll see more lessons about other uses and conjugations of deber. 

I hope it's helpfful.

Saludos cordiales

Inma

Gerald R.B2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Muchas gracias.

deber vs. debería

It has been suggested to me that "deber" in the present tense (and other tenses as well) can be best translated as "must" and that "debería" (in the conditional tense) can be best translated as "should". Is this a reasonable supposition, or would you prefer to put forth a better way of translating this (sometimes enigmatic) verb?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Thinking...