📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 7 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 2 · El arrepentimiento y el reproche
Debería haber, podrías haber
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 7 of 30: Two shapes carry most of the regret in Spanish. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Two shapes carry most of the regret in Spanish, and both put haber after the condicional: debería haber escuchado (I should have listened), podrías habérmelo dicho (you could have told me). Tendría que haber escuchado says the same as debería, with tener que.
Y también · And also
The difference between regret and reproach is only the person. Debería haber escuchado is remorse; deberías haber escuchado is an accusation. Use the second one carefully. The full condicional compuesto — habríamos tenido — carries the same meaning in one word.
Ojo · Watch out
debería haber + participle is I should have; podría haber + participle is I could have. The main verb stays a participle after haber: debería haber escuchado, never debería haber escuchar.
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with tendría que haber escuchado.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out tener, condicional compuesto and saber, condicional compuesto in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.