Q: How do you say "should / shouldn't" in Spanish?
A: Short answer: conditional of "deber" (debería) + infinitive
Longer answer: You can almost always say "should" in Spanish with the above formula. Here are some examples:
SPANISH:
1. Deberías estudiar más.
2. ¿No deberíamos salir ahora?
3. El gobierno debería bajar los impuestos.
4. Tus hermanos deberían buscar trabajo en la ciudad.
ENGLISH:
1. You should study more.
2. Shouldn't we leave now?
3. The government should lower taxes.
4. Your brothers should look for work in the city.
I just saw a couple of references after a Google search saying that example sentence number one could be stated using the present of "deber":
"Debes estudiar más".
I don't agree that the translation of "debes" in this sentence is "should". Using the present tense implies a much stronger obligation, or some sort of consequence, than using "deberías". A better translation of the above example - in order to get a feel of how and when it is used in Spanish - would be "You have to study more". Think of the difference in English between the sentences "You should study more" (just a suggestion) and "You have to study more" (or else!) and you'll get a feeling of the difference between the present ("debes") and the conditional ("deberías") in Spanish.
Brad
