Coffee Break Spanish - ‘Deber', 'tener que' and 'hay que' - 3 ways to express obligation in Spanish | CBS Show 2.03

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

Would you like to understand how to express obligation in Spanish? Tune in to this episode of the Coffee Break Spanish Show to learn all about "deber", "tener que" and "hay que".Prefer to watch these lessons? You can do exactly that for free on Coffee Break TV, and download the episodes to your device so you can access them on the go. Or, you can head to our Coffee Break Spanish YouTube channel to access the video version of each podcast episode there. Remember to subscribe to our channel so that you don’t miss an episode.That's not all... each episode of the Show is accompanied by a blog article to increase your understanding of the topics covered.➡️ Click the link to access the blog article and worksheet that accompany this lesson ⬅️ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish. Welcome to the Coffee Break Spanish show. I'm Concha. And I'm Annabel. What are, Concha? Very bien, Annabel. You, how are you? I'm very, and with much gas.

Yes, we are here with another episode from The Coffee Break Spanish Show. So in these weekly episodes, we help you learn Spanish one coffee break at a time. And if you are watching the video version, remember to subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Or if you are listening to us, then subscribe. to the podcast. So Anabel, what are we going to be talking about today? So today we are going to be talking about how to express obligation in Spanish. Ah, okay, perfect.

Well, we'll beck, let's go ahead. So to express obligation in Spanish, we actually use three main expressions. Mm-hmm. So we are going to start with de-ber plus infinitive. So we are going to have de ver, de'oeber, and then we are going to add just right away the infinitive. But first, shall we remind the conjugation of the verb de'bred? Yeah, it's not too difficult because it's a regular verb.

Uh-huh. And it means to must. Exactly. Okay, so I must. I must. You must. Deves. He, she must.

Debe. We must. Debemos. You all must. Debeis. And they must. Deben. E so is.

And then just after that, the infinitive. Exactly. So shall we see some examples? Venga. Okay. So the first example is, Debemos, Acer,

Los Deverees. So this would be, we must do our homework. So we must is, Debemos, and then do, just like in English, we are using the infinitive,

just the straight infinitive. So Acer, Debemos, and then los deverres, the homework. We must do. Exactly. Another example is,

Debes Abreender idiomans. I love this one. Yes. Because everyone should or must. In this case, you must learn languages. So in this case, we are talking exactly to a person. You must learn languages.

Deves to learn languages. Yeah. And I love that you are saying like you as like you Annabelle or you can tell. Must learn languages. Because we are like in the next example, we are going to see something a little bit different. Exactly. And this one says, So, this one would be you must recycle, but this is not the you as in I'm talking to you specifically.

It's a more general you that we're looking at here. So in general, one must recycle, we could say as well. So you must recycle as you, the listener, you must recycle is debes reclaclar. But if it's just in general, like we all as a community, we must recycle. is Cédebe recycle. Exactly. I think this Cé is going to come up a few times in this episode. So if you are not too sure about how to use it yet, don't worry, because we are going to have a couple of more examples.

Yes, and the only difference is that, as you said, we are using a Cé just before Debe. So it's Cedebe and then the infinitive. Just learn it as a said phrase. Cedeb and then the infinitive. So that was Debe and that is must. So something strong. Yes, yes. But we have another one that is a little bit not as strong.

Mm-hmm. And actually, I was speaking to Mark about this no so long ago because we were talking about the verb tenet. Ah. And it's the verb that we are going to be using for this expression. Mm-hmm. So this one is tenor ke plus an infinitive. This one we would translate as have to do something, okay? But before we see any examples, let's conjugate the verb.

Because this one is irregular. Okay, so Annabel, how would you say I have? Tengo. Very well. You have. Tienes. Very good. He or she has.

Tien. We have. Tenemos. You, plural, have. Teneis. And they have. Tienen. Exactly.

Very well. So for the expression, Tener K plus an infinitive. like we said, it's as strong as must as de'er. But yeah, we can translate it as have to or need to sometimes as well, depends on the context. But we need to put the ke in there. So do not confuse like this due as it has to be debert and then the infinitive and then tenor ke and the infinitive.

Exactly. But we are also using the infinitive. So it's quite straightforward. words. So let's have a look at one example. Tengue repasser those verbs irregulares. And I think we all must. Yeah. I have to revise the irregular verbs. Uh-huh. Exactly. So we have, Tengo, I have, Tengue repassar. So I have to revise. So like we said, the vertener conjugated plus the ke, very important, and then the infinitive.

And so, yeah. Okay. Okay. Another example. Teney's to call mom. What does this mean? You have to call mom. And here is a general you, like a plural you.

Exactly. Tenies to call a mama. So again, Tener que plus that infinitive for yamar. You have to call mom. And one more example, and this will be familiar to you already,

se has to care the planet. Se has to quidar the planet. Anabel, what does this mean? Well, this means you have to take care of the planet, but it's not like, concha, you have to take care of the planet.

It's more of that general you, like one has to take care of the planet. Exactly. And we see that say again there and the verb tenet is conjugated in the third person singular. Like before with se deve, now se tian ke.

So a more general obligation, let's say, everybody has to take care of the planet. So, se has to take care of the planet. And so else. Okay. I think de-be and to have-k, is fine? And so is. Now, let's make it just slightly difficult, like a little bit more difficult. I like, a little bit more difficult.

I like. So we have seen se debe plus the infinitive and then se has to-tien-ke plus the infinitive. This just means that one has to do something or, one must do something. There is a specific structure in Spanish just for this general thing. And it's ay que plus the infinitive. Yeah. Ayke plus the infinitive.

And the good news is that we don't need to conjugate anything. Bien. So it's just aike and then that infinitive. And remember that is that general idea. Let's see this with one example. Yeah. So the example is, So true.

Okay. So this means one has to clean the house. So I like to think of this one, like imagine that you have been cleaning the house like week after week after week. And your flatmate or your spouse hasn't been like doing much. And you think it's about time that they help. Instead of saying like, Tienes to limpiare la casa or deves limpeer la casa, that could be a little bit aggressive, right? Yes, yeah, so we can use that general idea that is I.

to clean the house needs cleaning, you know. It's not like you should do it, you must do it. It's just, we need to do this. Yeah, in general, let's do this, you know, we have to. Yes, I think it's very useful. Yeah, totally. I'm totally. Let's see one more example.

And this one is, there's be punctual. Mm-hmm. So this means one has to be punctual, which is something that we struggle with in Spain quite a lot. Oh, really, I'm very punctual. And actually, this is a sentence that I always say, just not to say, no, but just like, you know, when you are meeting out with people and they tend to be late.

So instead of saying like, oh, you're late again, and it's like, you know, we should be punctual. So I guess be punctual. So I can, it's not like you are doing this wrong. It's like, oh, come on. Yeah. I guess it's point. We are not targeting anyone. So shall we recap a little bit? Yes. Let's go. for it. So we have seen three different structures just to express obligation in Spanish. The first one is Deber and then the infinitive. That is

must, like two mass. Must do something. Exactly. Then we had the verb Tenere que plus an infinitive and this again takes the meaning of must a little bit. But we can also translate it as have to or need to.

And the majority of the times I will say that they are kind of interchangible. So don't worry too much about it because yeah, the majority of the time you're going like to use one or the other and it's going to be correct. And we had one more. Yeah, we have aike plus the infinitive. That is similar to CEDB plus infinitive and se tiniere plus the infinitive.

So all these three verbs or instructors are just to express obligation in Spanish. Very well. Well, well, that's so stupend. We hope you have enjoyed this lesson. You can see all the examples that we have given you and everything that we have spoken about in the blog article. And you can see the link in the description of this episode. And if you will like more help with your Spanish and will like to receive regular

free lessons on your email, then visit coffeebreaklanguages.com slash Spanish. So look out for the next mini lesson in your inbox. Well, well, well, yeah, Annabel. I think that's all... Ditcho? Yes, I'm sorry. That's all for now So, so until the

next. And happy coffee breaking!