deber
to owe
"Te debo dinero y una explicación más cara."
I owe you money and a more expensive explanation.
should, must
"Debes apagar el horno antes de salir corriendo."
You must turn off the oven before running out.
must be
"Debe de estar enfermo: rechazó el postre."
He must be ill: he refused dessert.
masculine noun
· commonduty, homework
"El deber llamó justo cuando fingía dormir."
Duty called just as I was pretending to sleep.
deber infinitive
Base forms
Present "I must"
yo debo
"Debo dejar de ver series a las 3 AM, pero aquí estoy."
I must stop watching series at 3 AM, but here I am.
"Debo hacer ejercicio, pero el sofá me llama."
I should exercise, but the couch is calling me.
"No debo comer más pizza, pero ¿quién soy para negarme?"
I shouldn't eat more pizza, but who am I to refuse?
tú debes
"Debes ver esa serie, es mejor que dormir."
You must watch that series, it's better than sleep.
"No debes creer todo lo que lees en internet, menos esto."
You shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet, except this.
"Debes estar bromeando si piensas que voy a madrugar."
You must be joking if you think I'm getting up early.
él/ella debe
"Debe haber una explicación lógica para esto. O no."
There must be a logical explanation for this. Or not.
"El wifi debe ser un derecho humano básico."
WiFi should be a basic human right.
"Mi gato debe pensar que es el dueño de la casa."
My cat must think he owns the house.
Preterite "I owed"
él/ella debió
"Debió decir la verdad, pero eligió el caos."
She should have told the truth, but chose chaos.
"El proyecto debió terminar hace un mes, aquí seguimos."
The project should have finished a month ago, here we still are.
"Debió ser divertido ver eso en vivo."
It must have been fun to see that live.
nosotros debimos
"Debimos salir temprano pero Netflix tenía otros planes."
We should have left early but Netflix had other plans.
"No debimos confiar en el GPS, nos trajo aquí."
We shouldn't have trusted the GPS, it brought us here.
"Debimos traer snacks, la película dura tres horas."
We should have brought snacks, the movie lasts three hours.
Imperfect "I used to owe"
Future "I will owe"
Conditional "I should"
Present subjunctive "that I owe"
tú debas
"No creo que debas preocuparte por eso, preocúpate por el WiFi."
I don't think you should worry about that, worry about the WiFi.
"Es importante que debas entender esto: el café primero."
It's important that you should understand this: coffee first.
"Dudo que debas tanto dinero, pero buena suerte."
I doubt you owe that much money, but good luck.