# suppose to / supposed to



## dylan'sdad

Hello, can you tell me the best way to say "I am suppose to go"?

He de ir.
Supongo ir.

Thank you for your help.


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## LaReinita

dylan'sdad said:


> Hello, can you tell me the best way to say "I am suppose to go"?
> 
> He de ir.
> Supongo ir.
> 
> Thank you for your help.


 
I am sure your translations are incorrect, infact, they do not make sense. However, I do not know how to express that exactly myself.

Quizás: Estoy supuesto ir.

Alguien?


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## María Madrid

Se supone que tengo que ir(me), depending on whether you mean ir (somewhere) or irme (leave). Saludos,


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## LaReinita

María Madrid said:


> Se supone que tengo que ir(me), depending on whether you mean ir (somewhere) or irme (leave). Saludos,


 
AHHH . . ¡¡Que una cosa maravillosa para saber!!  Gracias María Madrid!!


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## Amosya

María Madrid said:


> Se supone que tengo que ir(me), depending on whether you mean ir (somewhere) or irme (leave). Saludos,


I agree to what María Madrid has posted.


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## Dawei

dylan'sdad said:


> Hello, can you tell me the best way to say "I am supposed to go"?



For those who are learning...


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## mhp

LaReinita said:


> I am sure your translations are incorrect, infact, they do not make sense.



 “He de irme” is not a translation for “I’m supposed to go” but it is a valid sentence. 
_haber(conjugated) + DE + infinitive_
  is a valid grammatical structure

  For example see:
http://www.poemasyrelatos.com/poemas/h/021_hedeirme_matildealba_swann.htm?Autor=92


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## LaReinita

mhp said:


> “He de irme”
> 
> However, the original post did not say:
> 
> He de irme . . but rather He de ir, which would be incorrect.
> 
> Tengo que ir a . . .  O tengo que irme. . . If you don't provide a place or something following . .that can't stand alone.


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## María Madrid

mhp said:


> “He de irme” is not a translation for “I’m supposed to go” but it is a valid sentence.
> _haber(conjugated) + DE + infinitive_
> is a valid grammatical structure


Yup. you could also say "se supone que he de ir(me)", instead of tengo que ir(me). Sounds a bit more formal, though. 


LaReinita said:


> [However, the original post did not say:
> He de irme . . but rather He de ir, which would be incorrect.


The original post said I'm supposed to go, which can be ir or irme in Spanish, both are correct, but the meaning is not the same. Saludos,


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## LaReinita

María Madrid said:


> Yup. you could also say Se supone que he de ir(me), instead of tengo que ir(me). Sounds a bit more formal, though. Saludos,


 
María . . Can. . . He de ir . . be said alone?


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## María Madrid

Yes, it means the same as "tengo que ir" but it doesn't mean I'm supposed to, it means I have to go. And of course it implies you have already mentioned where you're going to. Saludos,


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## LaReinita

María Madrid said:


> Yes, it means the same as "tengo que ir" but it doesn't mean I'm supposed to, it means I have to go. Saludos,


 
Interesting!


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## Amosya

Another option which appears in conversations often:
_"I really should go/do, but...", " I'm suposed to do/go but.."...,_ the diference is the context of the phrase, whether you are obliged to do whatever or not/ La diferencia está en el contexto de la frase, si tienes una obligación o no... what comes after/en lo que viene despues...
¿No?


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## mhp

Amosya said:


> Another option which appears in conversations often:
> _"I really should go/do, but...", " I'm suposed to do/go but.."...,_ the diference is the context of the phrase, whether you are obliged to do whatever or not/ La diferencia está en el contexto de la frase, si tienes una obligación o no... what comes after/en lo que viene despues...
> ¿No?


  I’m supposed to do it
  Alguien cuenta con que lo hagas

  I really should  do it 
  Nadie necesariamente espera que lo hagas pero hay algo que te obliga a hacerlo.


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## Amosya

Esa es la cuestión de la frase, "I'm suposed to", a veces es algo exterior, pero a veces es algo interior/subjetivo, y se usa esta expresión, "uno supone que"... "debe de hacer, decir, etc"; depende del contexto.
Saludos.


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## britt711

What grammatical purpose does "de" serve in "he de irme"? Why is it necessary? I've learned a lot from your conversation, but I'm confusing myself.


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## NewdestinyX

dylan'sdad said:


> Hello, can you tell me the best way to say "I am suppose to go"?
> 
> He de ir.
> Supongo ir.
> 
> Thank you for your help.



"He de ir" is fine -- if you are around mostly Mexican people. It is a much stronger utterance in Spain where it means "I have to go" like "tengo que ir".  The 'haber de' formation is a little more literary everywhere but Mexico and North Central Spain. 

"Supongo ir" is not grammatical. "I suppose to go". Doesn't work.

"Supposed to" is an expression of light obligation on one's part or expressing the expectation of others. 

I've found that for light obligation uses.. DEBER in Spanish is the best.

To express the expectations of others on you or even ones you have of yourself -- the formation [SE SUPONE QUE + verb] is often the best.

*Here's the two feels:*
I am supposed to finish my homework first.
_Debo _(I must/should) _acabar mi tarea primero_.
---the SUPPOSED TO there is light obligation you are imposing on yourself or reporting to others something that's expected of you before something else happens. DEBER is really the best for this situation.

He's supposed to arrive later today.
_Se supone que él llegue/llega luego este día._
--the SUPPOSED TO here is an expectation but doesn't have any obligation attached. That's why Spanish says, literally, "it is supposed that... 'x' will happen". In the past you'd use "se suponía que".

Hope that helps a little.


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## mhp

britt711 said:


> What grammatical purpose does "de" serve in "he de irme"? Why is it necessary? I've learned a lot from your conversation, but I'm confusing myself.


It is a fixed grammatical structure. Hope this helps.



> *a) haber de *+ infinitivo*.* En el español general, esta perífrasis denota obligación, conveniencia o necesidad de que el sujeto realice la acción expresada por el verbo —o, si el infinitivo es pasivo, de que le suceda lo expresado por el verbo— y equivale a _tener que,_ fórmula preferida en el habla corriente: _«He de reconocer que al principio me incomodó la idea de encontrármelo durante la travesía»_ (Padilla _Imposibilidad_ [Méx. 1994]); _«Hubimos de esperar varios meses hasta conseguir recursos económicos»_ (Laín _Descargo_ [Esp. 1976]); _«La imagen de la Virgen hubo de ser retirada»_ (_Hora_ [Guat.] 14.7.97). A veces expresa, simplemente, acción futura: _«¡No he de morir hasta enmendarlo!»_ (Cuzzani _Cortés_ [Arg. 1988]); _«Ni siquiera la guerra habría de aliviar el temor y el respeto que imponía aquel valle a trasmano»_ (Benet _Saúl_ [Esp. 1980]). Tampoco en el caso de esta perífrasis es admisible en la lengua culta el uso de la forma _habemos_ para la primera persona del plural del presente de indicativo: _«Ahora los perdedores habemos de ahogar las penas en el vino y pensar en otras cosas»_ (RdgzMéndez _Bodas_ [Esp. 1976]); debió decirse _hemos de ahogar las penas_.


Del DPD


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## NewdestinyX

María Madrid said:


> Yes, it means the same as "tengo que ir" but it doesn't mean I'm supposed to, it means I have to go.



Maria, I think this is true only in North Central Spain and Catalán influenced areas. HABER DE can mean 'supposed to'/light obligation in Mexico and other places. I think students should steer clear of it all together except to learn what it means when they hear it. Would you agree?


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## María Madrid

Amosya said:


> Esa es la cuestión de la frase, "I'm suposed to", a veces es algo exterior, pero a veces es algo interior/subjetivo, y se usa esta expresión, "uno supone que"... "debe de hacer, decir, etc"; depende del contexto.
> Saludos.


No estoy de acuerdo, I'm supposed to no es lo mismo que "supongo que".

"I suppose/guess I have to go" sí sería el equivalente a "supongo que tengo que irme" que no es lo mismo que "se supone que tengo que irme" (I'm supposed to go). Saludos, 



NewdestinyX said:


> Maria, I think this is true only in North Central Spain and Catalán influenced areas. HABER DE can mean 'supposed to'/light obligation in Mexico and other places. I think students should steer clear of it all together except to learn what it means when they hear it. Would you agree?


No, I don't. Tengo que also implies obligation. 

Of course I have no idea how they use it in Mexico but in Spain you use both of them with basically the same meaning, only "he de" is a bit more formal, as I 've already said. Saludos,


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## NewdestinyX

María Madrid said:


> No estoy de acuerdo, I'm supposed to no es lo mismo que "supongo que".
> 
> "I suppose/guess I have to go" sí sería el equivalente a "supongo que tengo que irme" que no es lo mismo que "se supone que tengo que irme" (I'm supposed to go). Saludos,



Maria,
In what context would you use. "Se supone que tengA que irme". ?

Grant


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## Dudu678

NewdestinyX said:


> Maria,
> In what context would you use. "Se supone que tengA que irme". ?
> 
> Grant



You wouldn't use that. It's incorrect. I'd say:

_Se supone que teng*o* que irme._


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## María Madrid

NewdestinyX said:


> Maria,
> In what context would you use. "Se supone que teng*A* que irme". ?
> 
> Grant


None. Yet you might also hear "se supone que *tendría* que ir", this would express less willingness to go. 

Se supone que teng*O* que irme would be used exactly as "I'm supposed to go". Saludos,


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## dylan'sdad

Gracias todos para vuestro respuestas y discusiones.


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## gramatica

Hi,



> "Se supone que tengA que irme". ?


 
En Latino America pienso que se podría decir así si deberías irte pero no te vas. A ver qué dicen los nativos

Saludos


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## jmx

Hola, quería mencionar que las frases del tipo "se supone que tengo..." me parece que han aparecido precisamente como traducción del inglés "I'm supposed to...". No me suenan nada naturales, ni creo que tengan tradición en castellano.


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## mhp

jmartins said:


> Hola, quería mencionar que las frases del tipo "se supone que tengo..." me parece que han aparecido precisamente como traducción del inglés "I'm supposed to...". No me suenan nada naturales, ni creo que tengan tradición en castellano.



 Suponiendo que lo que dices sea cierto, ¿qué hay en español que impediría que se formulara una suposición en forma pasiva?


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## jmx

mhp said:


> Suponiendo que lo que dices sea cierto, ¿qué hay en español que impediría que se formule una suposición en forma pasiva?


Yo no digo que sea una frase agramatical, sólo digo que dudo que un señor de pueblo que no esté muy "culturalmente globalizado" llegue a entender una frase así. Es la típica frase que probablemente han introducido los dobladores de películas porque no encontraron nada mejor.


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## mhp

jmartins said:


> Yo no digo que sea una frase agramatical, sólo digo que dudo que un señor de pueblo que no esté muy "culturalmente globalizado" llegue a entender una frase así. Es la típica frase que probablemente han introducido los dobladores de películas porque no encontraron nada mejor.



Gracias


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## NewdestinyX

jmartins said:


> Yo no digo que sea una frase agramatical, sólo digo que dudo que un señor de pueblo que no esté muy "culturalmente globalizado" llegue a entender una frase así. Es la típica frase que probablemente han introducido los dobladores de películas porque no encontraron nada mejor.



Entooonces... sonaría mejor decir -- "Debo ir" en vez de "Se supone que voy." o -- ¿qué?


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## Dudu678

NewdestinyX said:


> Entooonces... sonaría mejor decir -- "Debo ir" en vez de "Se supone que voy." o -- ¿qué?


No es lo mismo.

_I must go.
I'm supposed to go_.

La diferencia es la misma que en inglés.


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## NewdestinyX

Dudu678 said:


> No es lo mismo.
> 
> _I must go.
> I'm supposed to go_.
> 
> La diferencia es la misma que en inglés.



Entonces estás diciendo, ya que «se supone que voy» te suena como un anglicismo a ti, que ¿«debo ir» sonaría más 'castellano'?

En inglés «I must go» y «I'm supposed to go» no suelen querer decir lo mismo. «Must», en inglés, es más fuerte que «should», de ahí que se traduzca al inglés mejor como «tener que».


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## Dudu678

No, digo que son frases distintas, con significados diferentes.

_Tengo que ir_.
Expresa una obligación.

_Se supone que voy_.
En teoría voy, seguramente voy, cuentan conmigo, etc.

_Se supone que tengo que ir_.
Creo que esta podría ser una traducción más precisa de _I'm supposed to go_.


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## NewdestinyX

Dudu678 said:


> No, digo que son frases distintas, con significados diferentes.
> 
> _Tengo que ir_.
> Expresa una obligación.
> 
> _Se supone que voy_.
> En teoría voy, seguramente voy, cuentan conmigo, etc.
> 
> _Se supone que tengo que ir_.
> Creo que esta podría ser una traducción más precisa de _I'm supposed to go_.



O lo siento. Fue otro forero que decía que 'se supone que' suena como anglicismo. No fuiste tú. Coincido contigo que «se supone que» es el más fiel para traducir 'supposed to' cuando no hay ninguna obligación.

Pero tengo que decir que «must» es tan fuerte como «tengo que» en inglés. «Deber» = "should" y «tener que» = "must"

"I must go" = Hay gente que me han dicho que yo vaya -o- tengo un sentimiento muy fuerte que necesito ir.
"I'm supposed to go" = Gente cree que voy -o- he pensado ir pero algo podría pasar.


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## Dudu678

Vale, una pequeña confusión.


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## NewdestinyX

One of my passions as an educator is to make summaries of topics and see if they stand the test of other's experience. And then of course
modify if need be. I have used this 'summarization chart technique' at other forums and it seems to have been helpful. I hope this can help
here too. Any input would be so welcome.

There is another recent thread that talked about this topic (se supone que) and I'll try to summarize what I think is important for natives of
both languages to understand from both these threads. I'm pretty sure we're all fluent in English on this forum but not all fluent in Spanish
so I'll use English.

*"to be supposed to"* in English carries two connotations that need to carry over into a translation to Spanish:
#1)*a light obligation* where someone is being compelled that they need to to something but there still might be a way out of the obligation.
--Both "deber", in the present tense and "tener que" in all tenses but conditional would be too strong a translation in Spanish. But in the end
'deber' in the conditional and 'tener que' in the conditional will be good translations. Some natives have reported that "deber' in the present
is also fine.
"He's supposed to finish his homework before leaving."
_Debe/Debería/Tendría que acabar su tarea antes de salir.

_#2)*an expectation* without any any obligation attached.
--"People think that something is/was going to happen but maybe it won't/didn't". In this context neither "deber" nor "tener que" work as an
adequate translation. The best translation to Spanish is [_Se supone/suponía que _+ present/imperfect verb] where you are literally saying that
"it is/was supposed that..".
"I'm supposed to go to this wedding on Sunday."
_Se supone que voy a esta boda el domingo.
_"They were supposed to go to the wedding on Sunday."
_Se suponía que iban a la boda el domingo._
It should be noted that there are other tenses that the verbs after 'se supone que' can go in -- but they don't necessarily translate "supposed
to" from English. Some of the other tenses in the Spanish make the English translation of 'se supone que' say "[subject] guess(es) that" or
"supposedly" or literally "It is supposed that" though that one isn't natural English.

Por los nativos de castellano: Para usar "supposed to" en inglés -- tiene que haber una sintáxis con "Se supone que + presente"/"Se suponía
que +[pretérito imperfecto]. Dependiendo del contexto del español -- el modo del verbo después de 'que' puede ser el subjuntivo también y
se usaría 'supposed to' en inglés. Para traducir algunas de las matices de español al inglés os ofrezco esta lista:
"Se supone que vendrá del oeste."
_It will supposedly/They guess it will/could come from the west.
_"Se suponía que existiría otra opción."
_They guessed another option would exist./Another option would supposedly have existed.

_Hay otras traducciones pero 'supposed to + inf' no funciona bien cuando "futuro o potencial' están en la claúsula segunda.


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## jmx

NewdestinyX said:


> Entooonces... sonaría mejor decir -- "Debo ir" en vez de "Se supone que voy." o -- ¿qué?


Yo particularmente, y a riesgo de perder algún matiz de la frase inglesa que se me haya escapado, diría "tendría que ir", "tendría que estar allí", etc.


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## NewdestinyX

jmartins said:


> Yo particularmente, y a riesgo de perder algún matiz de la frase inglesa que se me haya escapado, diría "tendría que ir", "tendría que estar allí", etc.



Gracias. Sí oigo 'tendría que' también. Nunca he pensado en que 'tendría que' podría reemplazar 'se supone que'. Puedo decir que según mis estudios, 'se supone que' ha aparecido en los escritos durante más de 200 años. No creo que sea un anglicismo.


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## Dudu678

jmartins said:


> Yo particularmente, y a riesgo de perder algún matiz de la frase inglesa que se me haya escapado, diría "tendría que ir", "tendría que estar allí", etc.


Me parece una traducción muy buena para algunos de los usos de _to be supposed to_.


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## mhp

I was curious to see how often “se supone que tengo que” is used.

  I searched the historic databanks of RAE and I found 0 hits.

  Then I searched the modern usage databanks and there were 3 hits. One from an oral discourse in Mexico with no date, and 2 from novels written in Spain in 1979 and 2000.

  Of course, there were a lot of hits for “se supone que” in both historic and modern databanks, but from the few pages that I inspected they were all used with the meaning “it is assumed that ...” and were not equivalent to “I’m supposed to”, “he is supposed to”, etc.


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## NewdestinyX

mhp said:


> I was curious to see how often “se supone que tengo que” is used.
> 
> I searched the historic databanks of RAE and I found 0 hits.
> 
> Then I searched the modern usage databanks and there were 3 hits. One from an oral discourse in Mexico with no date, and 2 from novels written in Spain in 1979 and 2000.
> 
> Of course, there were a lot of hits for “se supone que” in both historic and modern databanks, but from the few pages that I inspected they were all used with the meaning “it is assumed that ...” and were not equivalent to “I’m supposed to”, “he is supposed to”, etc.



Thanks MHP -- I've also been doing some searching. I love those historical databanks at the RAE. I think we can safely conclude that 'se supone que' did not enter the Spanish language from an influence of English.

But let's not forget that the 2nd meaning of 'supposed to' in English, that I listed, carries *no* obligation sense whatsoever. "It is assumed that" is *exactly* what "supposed to" means in those cases. As I said in my summary post -- "supposed to" for 'light obligation' should never be translated to 'se supone que'. "Supposed to" with light obligation is "debería" or "tendría que". Or depending on the tone of voice from English it can even have the stronger meaning of 'debo' or 'tengo que'. I wouldn't expect you to have found many hits for 'se supone que tengo que' -- that's a very strange sounding sentence in Spanish and English.


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## donotuseyourrealname

This is so, so helpful. 
*Here's the two feels:*
I am supposed to finish my homework first.
_Debo _(I must/should) _acabar mi tarea primero_.
---the SUPPOSED TO there is light obligation you are imposing on yourself or reporting to others something that's expected of you before something else happens. DEBER is really the best for this situation.

He's supposed to arrive later today.
_Se supone que él llegue/llega luego este día._
--the SUPPOSED TO here is an expectation but doesn't have any obligation attached. That's why Spanish says, literally, "it is supposed that... 'x' will happen". In the past you'd use "se suponía que".

Hope that helps a little.[/quote]


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## gjoe

Amosya said:


> Esa es la cuestión de la frase, "I'm suposed to", a veces es algo exterior, pero a veces es algo interior/subjetivo, y se usa esta expresión, "uno supone que"... "debe de hacer, decir, etc"; depende del contexto.
> Saludos.



¿Cual es la diferencia entre debe de hacer y debe hacer?


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## María Madrid

Deber de + inf.: posibilidad, especulación. Suena el teléfono. Debe de ser tu hermana
Deber + inf: obligación. Debes dejar de fumar

Y muchísimos nativos lo usan mal, al revés. No es extraño oírlo en televisión y radio. Saludos,


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## NewdestinyX

donotuseyourrealname said:


> NewdestinyX said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Here are the two feels:*
> I am supposed to finish my homework first.
> _Debo _(I must/should) _acabar mi tarea primero_.
> ---the SUPPOSED TO there is light obligation you are imposing on yourself or reporting to others something that's expected of you before something else happens. DEBER is really the best for this situation.
> 
> He's supposed to arrive later today.
> _Se supone que él llegue/llega luego este día._
> --the SUPPOSED TO here is an expectation but doesn't have any obligation attached. That's why Spanish says, literally, "it is supposed that... 'x' will happen". In the past you'd use "se suponía que".
> 
> 
> 
> This is so, so helpful.
Click to expand...


Glad to have helped. This is a tricky thing to master for any student.

Regards,
Grant


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## Bomberomusician

Hola a todos:

Estaba leyendo este hilo y quiero preguntarles una
pregunta.

Y qué hay de una frase como la siguiente, se puede usar deber de + inf.



I didn't know that it *was suppose to rain* today?

No sabía que debía de llover hoy.

o Es más apropiado usar Ir a + Inf.

No sabía que iba a llover hoy.


*Respecto a Haber de + Inf.*

Qué les parece de esta frase:

I am suppose to bring the beer to the party, and they are suppose to bring the food.

He de traer la cerveza a la fiesta, y han de traer la comida.


Gracias de antemano


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## cacarulo

NewdestinyX said:


> "He de ir" is fine -- if you are around mostly Mexican people. It is a much stronger utterance in Spain where it means "I have to go" like "tengo que ir".  The 'haber de' formation is a little more literary everywhere but Mexico and North Central Spain.
> 
> "Supongo ir" is not grammatical. "I suppose to go". Doesn't work.
> 
> "Supposed to" is an expression of light obligation on one's part or expressing the expectation of others.
> 
> I've found that for light obligation uses.. DEBER in Spanish is the best.
> 
> To express the expectations of others on you or even ones you have of yourself -- the formation [SE SUPONE QUE + verb] is often the best.
> 
> *Here's the two feels:*
> I am supposed to finish my homework first.
> _Debo _(I must/should) _acabar mi tarea primero_.
> ---the SUPPOSED TO there is light obligation you are imposing on yourself or reporting to others something that's expected of you before something else happens. DEBER is really the best for this situation.
> 
> He's supposed to arrive later today.
> _Se supone que él llegue/llega luego este día._
> --the SUPPOSED TO here is an expectation but doesn't have any obligation attached. That's why Spanish says, literally, "it is supposed that... 'x' will happen". In the past you'd use "se suponía que".



En "I am supposed to finish my homework first", ¿cuál sería la traducción más apropiada?
1) "primero debo terminar mi tarea"
2) "se supone que primero debo terminar mi tarea"
3) "primero debería terminar mi tarea"
4) "se supone que primero debería terminar mi tarea"


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## Rodal

Dawei said:


> For those who are learning...



De acuerdo con Dawei, debiera ser en pasado participio "I'm suppossed to go" en voz pasiva y en español se diría "se supone que me tengo que ir".


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