Knowing how to appropriately express obligation in Spanish is a useful aspect to get to grips with if you’re a learner of the language. In Spanish, there are three main phrases used to convey that someone must or has to do something: deber, tener que and hay que.
Understanding these expressions is useful for many everyday situations, but it’s also a topic that our Coffee Break community asks us about a lot, as it can be difficult to know when and how to use each expression.
The Coffee Break Spanish Show is a series of podcast episodes, in which we tackle tricky topics for Spanish learners. In this episode, join Anabel and Concha to learn how to express obligation in Spanish using these 3 main expressions.
So, let’s get started with looking at deber, tener que and hay que in Spanish, and we’d suggest you listen along to the podcast episode as you read.
Also, don’t forget to download your free worksheet at the end of this article so that you can test your knowledge. ¡Vamos allá!
1. ‘deber’ + infinitive
The verb deber in Spanish is used to express a strong sense of obligation and it is the equivalent of the English word “must”.
Let’s start by reviewing the conjugation of deber. The good news is that it is a regular verb in the present tense.
deber conjugation – present tense
(yo) debo
(tú) debes
(él/ella/usted) debe
(nosotros/nosotras) debemos
(vosotros/vosotras) debéis
(ellos/ellas/ustedes) deben
To say that someone must do something, we conjugate deber according to the person, then add the second verb in its infinitive form. Let’s see some examples:
Debemos hacer los deberes.
We must do our homework.
Debes aprender idiomas.
You must learn languages (addressing one person, a specific “you”).
Pay attention to the next example, which is slightly different.
Se debe reciclar.
You / one / everyone must recycle (addressing a general “you”).
While deber + infinitive can be used to say what an individual person or group of people must do, the construction se debe + infinitive expresses a more general obligation in Spanish – something that everyone, or people in general must do.
2. ‘tener que’ + infinitive
The phrase tener que in Spanish conveys a slightly less strong sense of obligation compared to deber. It translates as “to have to” in English and is commonly used in everyday situations.
The verb tener was the focus of the previous episode of The Coffee Break Spanish Show, in which we learned 10 other everyday phrases that use tener. So, in this episode we’re adding an 11th common, everyday tener expression: tener que.
Tener is an irregular verb in the present tense, so let’s start by reviewing its conjugation:
tener conjugation – present tense
(yo) tengo
(tú) tienes
(él/ella/usted) tiene
(nosotros/nosotras) tenemos
(vosotros/vosotras) tenéis
(ellos/ellas/ustedes) tienen
To say that someone has to do something, we conjugate tener according to the person, then add que, followed by the second verb in its infinitive form. Let’s see some examples:
Tengo que repasar los verbos irregulares.
I have to review / go over the irregular verbs.
Tenéis que llamar a mamá.
You (plural) have to call mum.
As we just saw with deber, tener que also has an alternative construction using se. Like se debe + infinitive, se tiene que + infinitive is used to express a wider obligation in Spanish – addressing people in general, rather than one specific person or group of people. For example:
Se tiene que cuidar el planeta.
You / one / everyone has to take care of the planet (addressing a general “you”).
In many contexts, tener que and deber are roughly interchangeable, so don’t worry too much about using one over the other to express obligation in Spanish. Just remember that tener que uses que after the conjugated verb, while deber does not.
3. ‘hay que’
The third expression we’re going to look at for expressing obligation in Spanish is hay que. Hay que + infinitive is only used to indicate a general obligation, just like se debe or se tiene que, and it conveys a similar idea to “one must” or “it is necessary to” in English.
And the good news with hay que is that we don’t have to think about conjugating the verb – it is a set expression that is simply followed by the infinitive. Let’s see some examples:
Hay que limpiar la casa.
One has to clean the house. / You (general) have to clean the house. / The house has to be cleaned.
Hay que ser puntual.
One has to be punctual. / You (general) have to be punctual.
Using hay que in Spanish is particularly useful when you want to express an obligation without targeting anyone specifically, by turning a direct suggestion into a more general statement.
In the podcast episode, Anabel gives us a great example: imagine you’ve been the one cleaning the house every time for the last while, and you think it’s time others helped out. In this situation, you might say hay que limpiar la casa to make the statement more general and less direct than if you were to say debes limpiar la casa or tienes que limpiar la casa.
A visual summary of expressions of obligation in Spanish
That’s it for our 3 expressions of obligation in Spanish: deber, tener que and hay que. We hope that you’ll now feel confident saying what someone must or has to do clearly and appropriately in various contexts.
To get the most out of this lesson, watch the video or listen to the audio podcast episode with Anabel and Concha on The Coffee Break Spanish Show. We regularly publish new episodes to help our Coffee Break community improve their Spanish, so make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and podcast feed so that you never miss an episode.
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Happy Coffee Breaking!
