Using Should, Could, & Ser
SpanishDict translator translated the following:
1.You should do it. (lo debería hacer) 2.You could tell me. (Me podría decir) 3.You should have told me. (Me debería haber dicho)
Is this accurate, because I was told that the "ría" ending is translated as "would".
Also a Spanish course I'm using says that the 3rd sentence should have been "Me habría debido dicho"
Also "If I had gone to the party it would have been very interesting."
translates as "Si hubiera ido a la fiesta hubiera sido muy interesante. "
Can someone explain the preference of "sido" over "estado" ??
4 Answers
In light of your update (I don't think decirme or hacerlo makes any difference here):
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/168820/should-have-debera-haber-or-habra-debido
Tonyriva is a native Spanish speaker from Mexico:
Hi... "Habría debido hacerlo"... I've never listened to this expression, it's not usual in the common speech... and it's a little hard to understand... But to tell the truth... I don't remember reading it... I might be wrong... "Debería haberlo hecho"... this is the most common, and understandable phrase... I don't know if anyone from other country could say otherwise... but "habría debido hacerlo"... is not used in Spanish from Mexico
But read all the answers. They may even mention your specific course
Following up on Bosque's excellent answer. The "ría" ending as you put it is the conditional tense and almost always is translated as "would". Deber and poder being exceptions to the general rule.
The selection of "sido" vs "estado" is the same as you would use for "ser" vs "estar". So would you say. Lo es muy interesante. or Lo esta muy interesante.? "Ser" is the general verb for "to be" and "estar" has special applications. At least that is how I look at them.
My opinions (you asked 3 separate questions from what I can distinguish):
(1) A few words are best just learned separately from the standard rules:
I think debería is one- I use it for should all the time
deber is to have a duty/obligation to do something.
the conditional tends to make things milder and so can take the must of "debe" to the should of "debería". Sort of would have the obligation to- although not really literally so it best to just learn it separately.
Podría is easier because "could" frequently simply is "would be able to" and poder is "to be able to".
In both cases though it is best to just study how the words are used in context and see how they match up to English and develop a feel for it.
(2) Me habría debido dicho- doesn't make sense to me- you have 2 past participles in a row. To me " Me habría debido" means "You(usted) would have owed me"- "You would have owed me said" makes no sense. Your number 3 says to me "you should have said to/told me"
(3) I always use ser with interesante, it is just what I see, it would not occur to me to do otherwise.
Also a Spanish course I'm using says that the 3rd sentence should have been "Me habría debido dicho"
For anyone like me who was curious about which course that is, it's Michel Tomas Advanced Spanish.
