Should in the past tense

Question

Hello everyone,

I use this website everyday and also the IPhone - extremely useful! I wonder if someone could help me with something that's long confused me, and that's using deber in the past... If I say 'el debe estar aqui' I think I'm saying 'he should be here'. In English, to say the same thing in the past, I'd say 'he should have been here'.

My confusion is whether I should even be attempting to use deber alone (and not with haber) when I'm talking about the past. I'd probably say 'el habria debido estar aqui' or 'deberia haber estado aqui'.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Chris

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, May 30, 2011

Good question model - have a vote. - ian-hill, May 30, 2011

Answer 1

deberia haber estado aqui'.

This is correct, we would probably more likely say:

Debió estar aquí.

Now this is definitely not in my grammar books! Can I say "Debí hacerlo ayer"? - MLucie, May 30, 2011

Thank you Heidita - for the help and welcome - model600, May 30, 2011

Answer 2

"Debí hacerlo ayer"

No. "Debí haberlo hecho ayer" / "Lo debí haber hecho ayer"

Thanks Samdie. I didn't think so, but when Heidita said "debió (preterite) + estar (infinitive)..." I started to wonder. Guess I'd better stick to the grammar book. - MLucie, May 30, 2011