Breakdown of No debería haber corrido con el suelo mojado; por eso me torcí el tobillo.
yo
I
con
with
;
semicolon
no
not
Questions & Answers about No debería haber corrido con el suelo mojado; por eso me torcí el tobillo.
Why is it debería haber corrido and not just debería correr?
Because debería haber corrido is talking about a past action that, in hindsight, was a mistake.
- debería correr = I should run / I ought to run (present or general advice)
- debería haber corrido = I should have run / in this negative sentence, I shouldn’t have run
The structure is:
- debería
- haber
So:
- No debería haber corrido = I shouldn’t have run
This is a very common way to express regret or criticism about the past.
Why does debería mean should here?
The verb deber often means must / should / ought to depending on context.
In the conditional form debería, it usually softens the idea and often translates as should or ought to:
- Debo estudiar = I must / I have to study
- Debería estudiar = I should study
In this sentence, No debería haber corrido is a natural way to say I shouldn’t have run.
Why is the past participle ?