Learn Spanish (Spain): Ella debe de ser muy cariñosa con él. - She must be very affectionate with him.

Ella debe de ser muy cariñosa con él.

She must be very affectionate with him.

Breakdown of Ella debe de ser muy cariñosa con él.

ser

to be

él

he / him (after a preposition)

ella

she / her (after a preposition)

con

with / just by (+ -ing)

Questions & Answers about Ella debe de ser muy cariñosa con él.

Why is there a "de" after "debe"?

While deber followed directly by an infinitive usually means obligation (she has to do something), adding de creates deber de, which expresses probability or a strong guess. Here, debe de ser means "she must be" or "she probably is" affectionate.

Could we use "estar" instead of "ser" with "cariñosa"?

Yes, but it changes the meaning. Using ser means being affectionate is a permanent part of her personality. If the sentence said debe de estar muy cariñosa, it would mean she is acting very affectionately right now in a temporary way.

Why do we use "él" here instead of "le" or "lo"?

Because it comes right after a preposition. Words like con (with), de (from), and para (for) require prepositional pronouns instead of direct or indirect object pronouns. For "him", the correct prepositional pronoun is él, giving us con él.

Why does "él" have an accent mark?

The written accent is used to distinguish the pronoun él (he or him) from the definite article el (the). Since it means "him" in this sentence, the accent is absolutely necessary to show the difference.