Deber; must vs should vs ought. - what's the real sense?
Hola.
OK, I've noticed before that I am not really quite sure of the real feel and use of the word 'deber' I know it can be should, ought, must etc, but am not sure which ones of those when. I know this may sound like splitting hairs, but I really want to understand the Spanish sense of the word better. For instance, my latest missed quiz question was translating:
Él debe de estar cansado. For which I put: He should be tired.
Which was marked wrong and corrected as: He must be tired.
Yes, I know, in some senses, that we often use those nearly interchangeably in English, but used more precisely, they're somewhat more different.
He should be tired, implies that he's done a lot of work, or that he hasn't slept much, and that someone is now commenting on that fact.
He must be tired , though it would seem as if used like the above, also sounds almost as if a command or mandate to be tired. Which of course makes little sense.
So, when see 'deber' defined as 'must', should I take it only to be in the sense of 'should' or can it also sometimes be in the sense of 'have to'? i.e. You must pay for the tickets before entering the event.?
Thanks for humoring the long post on such a short word, and helping me get my brain wrapped around this.
1 Answer
I've always used the conditional of deber to express "should," and the present to express "Must."
