Should and must, debí y deberia

Question

Pimsleur is teaching me to say "debí" for should, as in "I should have eaten", they say "debí haber comido". I thought that debí was the past tense of must, and debería means should. When used in this way, does debí haber comido mean i should have eaten?

welcome to the forum, :) - 006595c6, Jul 9, 2017

Answer 1

Well, both forms are acceptable. Welcome to the forum, snake

I think this is regional. Here in Spain it would be more common to use:

Debería haber comido.

However, debí haber comido is probably very common in other countries.

We normally use debí with the infinitive.

debí hacer los deberes. I should have done my homework.

Debí comer antes. I should have eaten earlier.