Lesson 55: Should have, Could have and the irregulars
We've touched briefly on 'Habría' - would have - and 'Podría' - would have (been able to). Now we'll look at 'Debría' - should have and also cover the irregular verbs that don't follow standard rules
OK, so we have 'haber' as the "to have" verb to talk about the past.
 Spanish |  English |
|---|---|
| He cancelado | I have cancelled |
And we said that this form of a verb after 'haber' can also be used as an adjactive - a word to explain a thing ("big", "red", etc.).
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Está cancelado | Its cancelled |
| (La Fiesta) está cancelada | (The party) is cancelled |
| Se ha complicado | It has got complicated |
| Está complicado | It is complicated |
| Es complicado | It is complicated |
Just a reminder with that last one - almost all adjectives go with 'Estar' but there are a few that can use 'ser' as well. Sometimes which one is used most often is dictated by where in the Spanish world you are so there is no universal hard and fast rule.
To start with though you can use 'Estar' all the time and you will be understood.
Should have
I should have is the past tense of "must" which we covered earlier in the verb 'deber'
We said that 'deber' follows the standard rules to make it into "I should" - we add 'ía' to the end to get 'debería'.
Now if you remember we said all this when we were talking about how to say things in the future but, as with English, we sometimes start past tense sentences with future structures ("I should have gone") just like we create future tense statements using the present tense ("I am swimming tomorrow").
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Debería haber cancelado | I should have cancelled |
| Lo debería haber cancelado | I should have cancelled it |
| Debería haberlo cancelado | I should have cancelled it |
Could have
We've already seen 'Podría' - "Could" - in an searlier lesson.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Podría haber ido | I could have gone |
| Podríamos haber ido | We could have gone |
Irregular verbs
So we've got this rul about verbs that come after 'haber' no matter what the form of haber:
- with 'ar' verbs we take off the 'ar' and add 'ado'
- with 'ir'/'er' verbs we take off the 'ir'/'er' and add 'ido'
But there are a handful of exceptions we need to be aware of
To break
'Romper' - "to break" - should become 'rompido' but it doesn't, it becomes 'roto'.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lo he roto | I have broken it |
| Los he roto | I have broken them |
| Se ha roto | It has broken |
| Está roto | It is broken |
To die
'Morir' - "to die" - should become 'morido' but it doesn't, it becomes 'muerto'.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Ha muerto | He has died |
| Se ha muerto | He has died (himself) |
You'll here both ot the above in use and both are correct. You'll also hear "to die" used in the same way we do in English - "to die of boredom", "to be really tired", etc.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Está muerto | He is dead |
| Estoy muerto | I'm dead (really tired) |
| Estoy muerta | I'm dead (really tired) (female speaking) |
| Me muero | I die (from embarrasmant / laughter / etc.) |
Yes its 'Estar' in use here describing death as a state while you might feel it is a charactaristic and so want to use 'ser'. But death is only a state becuase before that you were in the state of being alive and there are stories of people being bought hack from death ... so death is a state!
To open
'Abrir' - "to open" - should become 'abrido' but it doesn't, it becomes 'abierto'.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lo he abierto | I have opened it |
| Está abierto | It is open |
| Están abiertos | They are open |
Decir and Hacer
'Decir' - "to say" - should become 'decido' but it doesn't, it becomes 'dicho'.
'Hacer' - "to make/to do" - should become 'hacido' but it doesn't, it becomes 'hecho'.
We look at them together here because they hoth have a 'ch' sound involved.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lo he dicho | I have said it |
| Le he dicho | I have told him (said to him) |
| Le hemos dicho | We have told him (said to him) |
| Lo he hecho | I have done it / made it |
| Debería haberlo hecho | I should have done it / made it |
| Deberías haberlo hecho | You should have done it / made it |
| Está hecho | It is done / made |
Both are also nouns:
- 'un hecho' means "a fact".
- 'un dicho' means "a saying".