Must have been

Question

Referring to estimation on how we think the past may have played out, how would you say something like "It must have been very confusing to them?" Debe de haberles sido muy confuso? or Debía de ser confuso? The first seems a mouthful! What's the best way to express this?

Answer 1

I would use the first: Debe de haberles sido muy confuso (Nuance of thinking about it now)

or: Debía de haberles sido muy confuso (Considering it during its time of action).

So if I am now, in the present, thinking about something in the past, I use the present. But if I am talking about what I thought in the past about the past event I use the imperfect? - gringojrf, Oct 22, 2014

Using present, yes. Using imperfect here doesn´t mean that you were thinking about this action in the past but that the verb "deber" focuses on the past. It´s a matter of nuance (a feeling), so it´s difficult to explain and maybe I haven´t explained it - 005faa61, Oct 22, 2014

Answer 2

I put the following into the translator: It must have been very confusing to them. and I got this for all three responses:

debe haber sido muy confuso para ellos.

Now my problem is that this appears to be present indicative when the intent is to talk of something in the past. So should it be debia instead of debe?

I did the same with the same confusion - pacofinkler, Oct 21, 2014

Answer 3

Bueno, no confío en el traductor electrónico. Me interesa lo que piensan los hablantes nativos.

Answer 4

I agree with julian

Answer 5

Maybe you're trying for too literal a translation.

Perhaps something like 'Por supuesto, era muy confuso para ellos' might work... ?