Ha de. Hay que. Debe. Tiene que. Nesesita.

Question

Could someone help me out with the myriad ways of saying "(you) should." We have: Usted ha de ir. Usted hay que ir. Usted debe ir. Usted tiene que ir. Usted necesita ir. Obviously some of them are directly translatable, but do some of them imply more or less urgency. When suggesting that something be done or implying that something should have been done that wasn't, are there gentler ways of saying it? Thanks!

Answer 1

That's something I've been thinking about. For me, I have those obligations that I translate in different ways.

Haber de, I usually translate it to "to be to.." example: (usted) Ha de ir. You're to go. (Like in, "I'm to wash the car.")

Hay que, I usually translate into the passive voice with must. example: Hay que limpiar el carro. The car must be washed. When no object, I usually translate it with one or some/somebody as the subject i.e.,One/Somebody must go. Hay que ir.

Deber. I usually translate this to ought to/should. example: Debe ir. You ought to/should go.

Tiene que. I always translate this as have to. example: Tiene que ir. You have to go.

Necesita. This one's pretty straightforward. I translate it as need to. example: Necesita ir. You need to go.

For me, "must" in English can usually be translated, when not in passive form, to tener que or deber/deber de.

For gentle ones, you could do something like, "Do you think you could...?" like "¿Piensa que podría...? or just "Could you...? which is ¿Podría...?

Keep in mine these are the levels of obligations for me, for others it could differ as I hear obligation levels differ from place to place. Hope I helped you some.

Thanks, that is very helpful. - Pinolero, Feb 5, 2012

Answer 2

For urgency: Ya voy.

Now, I go.

Gotcha, Thnx - Pinolero, Feb 8, 2012