La Palabra del Día: "Deber"

Question

Deber:

should; to have to do something (duty); to owe

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Use today's Word of the Day in your own Spanish and English sentences. Try to use the word in a completely new way and vote on the sentences you like best. The sentence with the most votes will be crowned the Word of the Day winner!

Guidelines:

• Write sentences at least 5 words long, but don't write a paragraph either.
• Write your Spanish sentence, but include the English translation as well.
• Make the corrections suggested by other users and moderators in the comments section (try not to use personal pronouns unless absolutely necessary).
• Use your own words! (Don't use a translator, copy from a book, use song lyrics, etc.)
• Have fun experimenting with Spanish!

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My examples

1: Debes practicar el español más a menudo.

You should practice Spanish more often.

2: Me debes cien dólares.

You owe me one hundred dollars.

Answer 1

Debes amarla de veras si todavía quieres casarte con ella después de todo lo que te ha hecho.

You must really love her if you are still willing to marry her after all that she's done to you.

Answer 2

We should always respect mother nature.

Siempre debemos respetar la madre naturaleza.

• Since "we" is the subject I would go with "debemos". I like the lightening strikes, too! - bandit51jd Feb 18, 2012
• Thank you Bandit. - rac1 Feb 18, 2012
• Since "mother nature" isn't actually a person, I would not use the personal "a" in this case. Otherwise, great sentence! - Paralee Feb 19, 2012
• Thank you Paralee - rac1 Feb 19, 2012

Answer 3

No debe correr con las tijeras porque es peligroso.

You shouldn't run with scissors because it's dangerous.

• ¡Perfect! And good advice! - Paralee Feb 19, 2012
• Thank you Paralee. - katydew Feb 19, 2012

Answer 4

Cariño creo sinceramente que deberías cambiar tu estilo, esa moda ya pasó de moda.

Darling, I think honestly that you should to change your style, this is out of style.

• Nicely done. I would say, "...your style, this is out of style". (or 'out of fashion'). - katydew Feb 18, 2012
• "Esa moda ya pasó de moda" with an accent. Great sentence! - Paralee Feb 19, 2012

Answer 5

Se debe hacer ejercicio todos los días, pero no es divertido. One should exercise every day, but it isn´t fun.

• But this guy looks like he is having a blast! - katydew Feb 18, 2012
• hahaha! - lydianish1 Feb 19, 2012

Answer 6

Debes comer verduras cada día.

You should eat vegetables every day.

• ¡Perfecto! - Paralee Feb 19, 2012
• Thanks Paralee. - Maria-Russel Feb 19, 2012

Answer 7

Se deben producir una película sobre "parkour", el deporte donde gente hacen gimnasia en la calle.

They should produce a movie about "parkour", the sport in which people do gymnastics in the street.

• I don't think the 'se' is necessary in this instance. - Martha-SD Feb 18, 2012
• "Se" is correct, even though the rest of the sentence isn't;) - Heidita Feb 18, 2012
• Oh dear Heidi, the sentence made sense to me. I guess I still haven't gotten through the 'NO literal translation' phase! - mathslover Feb 19, 2012
• I would say "...el deporte en que personas practican la gimnasia por las calles." - Paralee Feb 19, 2012

Answer 8

Hay tantas cosas que debemos hacer. Es imposible hacer todo. Si tenemos suerte podemos hacer algunos.

There are so many things we ought to do it is impossible to do all of them. If we are lucky we can do some of them.

• It's a bit choppy, Jenny. Try separating your first sentence into two separate sentences. - Paralee Feb 19, 2012
• Gracias - es mejor como eso? - jennysk Feb 19, 2012

Answer 9

No debes fumar en una casa donde oxigeno esta en usa. - You shouldn't smoke in a home where oxygen is in use.

Correction: No debes fumar en una casa donde oxígeno está uso.

• I don't know why my picture didn't post. Sometimes I have this problem. Can you not post a .jpg - kdrinning Feb 18, 2012
• You have to click the little picture button in your post and paste the link into the popup window to add pictures. Also, "oxígeno" has an accent as well as "está." "Uso" should be masculine. - Paralee Feb 19, 2012
• Thanks Paralee. I think that I just forgot to push the post picture button. Oops. I will fix my sentence. Thanks. - kdrinning Feb 19, 2012

Answer 10

Someone telling me what I should do puts my teath on edge.

Alguien manda mi qué deber hago poner me tenso.

• "Teeth" in English. And your Spanish is a bit directly translated. "Cuando alguien me manda hacer algo, me da dentera." - Paralee Feb 19, 2012

Answer 11

Todos los días debes hacer la palabra del día. Every day you should do the word of the day.