Ya debería de haber llegado

Question

Ya debería de haber llegado.

Leí el primero en un libro. Creo que deberían haber decido:

Ya debería haber llegado. He should have arrived already.

¿Tengo razón, o los dos son correctos?

Answer 1

Deber indicates responsibility or obligation, but with de, it denotes probability.

Debe de ser rico, ¡mira su coche! = He must be rich, look at his car!

According to the RAE, both are correct (w/ and w/o de) when you want to express probability. But it's a no-no to use deber de when talking about obligation.

Ej: Debes ir al mercado. (correct)

Debes de ir al mercado. (wrong)

(Long story short, both your sentences are correct.)

Yes! Now I remember. He should have come by now (that guy is always late), as opposed to He should have come by now (why is he late, I'm worried.) Bien explicado. - Jeremias, Aug 16, 2011