Preterite vs. Imperfect

"Debías" uses the imperfect tense, which means the obligation (should/supposed to) was ongoing, habitual, or existed in the past without a specific end date.

Tense Focus: The Imperfect

When giving advice about something that happened in the past, 'debías' often functions like 'you should have' in English, expressing that you failed to meet an expectation.

Giving Past Advice

'Debías' is almost always followed immediately by a verb in its base form (infinitive): 'debías ir' (you should go), 'debías comer' (you should eat).

Use with Infinitive

Extremely common, used daily to express past necessity, obligation, or advice.

Using the imperfect ('debías') emphasizes that the debt was a continuous state or an ongoing obligation in the past, not a one-time transaction.

The Imperfect for Ongoing Debt

Commonly used when discussing past financial or moral debts.

"Debías" is the 'tú' form of the imperfect tense of 'deber,' meaning 'you should have,' 'you were supposed to,' or 'you owed.' Learn its conjugation and when to use it for past advice or debts.

Debías Meaning & Usage (Imperfect of Deber) | InkLingo

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deber

Complete Conjugation Tables

🔄 Conjugations

indicative

present

future

imperfect

conditional

preterite

imperative

negative

affirmative

subjunctive

present

imperfect

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