debir

to owe

verb deh-BEER Rare

Origin: Latin debere (to owe)

Also means

must; to have to

Usage Note

Deber (the standard lemma) expresses obligation — debes estudiar (you must study) — and financial owing — le debo dinero (I owe him money). The seed form debir is a non-standard variant or typo; the canonical Spanish infinitive is deber. Deber de + infinitive expresses probability: debe de estar cansado (he must be tired).

Examples

"Debes terminar tu tarea antes de salir."

Natural Translation

You must finish your homework before leaving.

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