Word
Deberías tomar el antibiótico cada ocho horas.
Meaning
You should take the antibiotic every eight hours.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Deberías tomar el antibiótico cada ocho horas.
ocho
eight
la hora
the hour; the time (on the clock: what time is it?)
tomar
to have (food or drink); to take (medicine, the bus)
cada
each, every
Questions & Answers about Deberías tomar el antibiótico cada ocho horas.
Why is Deberías used here instead of Debes?
Deberías is the conditional tense of deber. While debes is a strong obligation meaning "you must", using the conditional deberías softens it to mean "you should" or "you ought to". This is the standard and most polite way to give advice or a medical recommendation in Spanish.
Why do we use tomar for medicine instead of other Spanish verbs that mean "to take"?