Hay que -vs- Uno debe
At first, I would have thought that "One should clean the bathroom" should be:
Uno debe limpiar el baño.
But then I learned about "hay que":
Hay que limpiar el baño.
Now I just learned that you can, indeed, use "Uno debe..." or "Uno no debe..." to express that "One should..." or "One shouldn't...".
Which is more common?
10 Answers
"Hay que" is more like "somebody has to..."
Rosseta stone say "Uno debe..... así", because is talking about how things have to be done. Not like somebody has to clean the bathroom because is dirty. In those cases, when somebody has to do something because of some reason, you usually say "hay que..".
If you use "uno debe" in those cases, it's understable, but nobody speaks that way, except perhaps this guy
Just out of curiousity, where did you hear that 'uno debe' is an acceptable phrase? I've never actually heard it, but that doesn't mean it's not right. I would personally have guessed that 'se debe' would be a better way to say it.
In my experiences, "hay que" is way, way, way more common. I have never heard anyone say "uno debe" although of course I am aware of its existence. That said, I haven't been in barely any "formal" situations, plus I am gifted at forgetting things (but also at remembering things I didn't even know I heard, haha).
There's my confusing opinion : D
When my niece was 2, she was doing something she knew she wasn't supposed to do while some guests were visiting. My sister said, "One would think one would learn." and my niece stopped. My sister's friends said that it was terrible for her to talk that way to someone so young, and even worse that she understood.
The use of "uno" is correct, but not common in spoken Spanish (at least in Ecuador). Kind of like the use of "one" in English (at least in the US).
It's interesting to me that such a "weird structure" and something that is "not used" gets 2.2 million hits on Google search ("uno debe").
"One needs to clean the bathroom".
Well, technically it is correct, but hey, who says that? 
I am often surprised at what this method teaches. Very weird structures.
the most common by far is the se option:
se debe limpiar al suelo así, se debe cocinar así...
Also hay que....
The use of "uno" is correct, but not common in spoken Spanish (at least in Ecuador). Kind of like the use of "one" in English (at least in the US).
That's kinda what I thought.
I would NEVER say something like "One needs to clean the bathroom"... I would say, "Hey, get in there and clean the bathroom!!".
debe limpiar ... you should clean
hay que limpiar ... you should clean
But you're in trouble if they say:
tiene que limpiar ... you MUST clean
Creo
Just out of curiousity, where did you hear that 'uno debe' is an acceptable phrase?
Rosetta Stone:
