No. 2,143 in Spanish

debían

"They owed" or "they had to" (imperfect tense of "deber").

In a sentence

Ellos debían terminar el proyecto antes de la fecha límite.
They had to finish the project before the deadline.
In this sentence, 'debían' (they had to) is used to indicate an obligation or duty in the past.
Los estudiantes debían estudiar para el examen, pero no lo hicieron.
The students were supposed to study for the exam, but they didn't.
'Debían' here reflects an expectation or recommendation in a past situation.
Debían tener cuidado al cruzar la calle debido al tráfico intenso.
They should have been careful crossing the street due to heavy traffic.
In this case, 'debían' implies a suggestion or advisement in a past context.

Hear it in real podcasts

The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “debían” in actual Spanish podcasts.

Learn it from shows you like

LangTurbo plays Spanish podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.

Get the app

Spanish books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).