How to express "should have done something" in Spanish?

There are various ways we can express things we wish should have occured in the past.

The simplest way to express this is by using the preterite form of the verb deber.  Let's take a look at some examples:

Debí hacerlo.
I should have done it.

Debiste llamar a la policía.
You should have called the police.

If you are new to learning Spanish, I recommend you to stick to this form as it's easy to remember and more simple.

However, there are more ways on how to express "should have done something" in Spanish. These are the possible forms:

Preterite form of the verb deber + haber: Debiste haberlo hecho.
Imperfect form of the verb deber + haber: Debías haberlo hecho.
Conditional form of the verb deber + haber: Deberías haberlo hecho.
Past subjunctive of the verb deber + haber: Debieras haberlo hecho.
Imperfect form of the verb tener + haber: Tenías que haberlo hecho.
Conditional form of the verb tener + haber: Tendrías que haberlo hecho.


Most of the time, the preference of the speaker is what makes the difference among these forms. I had a Spanish friend that once told me that the "debiste hacerlo" and "debiste haberlo hecho" form sound more of from mexican telenovelas. In Spain, the form "tenía que haberlo hecho" is much used as far as I can notice on how Spaniards speak. While the conditional forms and the one with past subjunctive sound formal and polite to native speakers.

To some speakers, the form debí haberlo hecho has more "recency" than debí hacerlo, as in:

Mi hermana murió hace años. Debí pasar más tiempo con ella cuando vivía.

Estaba distraído cuando mi hermana me hablaba. Hay algo que me comentó que no entendí del todo. La debí haber escuchado.


In some Latin American countries, especially in Mexico, people would use "hubiera" + the past participle to express "should have done something".

Me hubieras llamado por teléfono.
You should have called me by phone.