Headword
Language Spanish · deber ‘owe’ · Debtor subject · Amount or thing owed one direct object · Creditor indirect a plus dative le/les · optional ground por · modal deber + infinitive and deber de + infinitive are a separate sense · middle deberse a has no Creditor
Debtor, Amount, Creditor, Cause/Ground · Spanish marking · working claim, revisable
deber ‘owe’. Four places in the debt reading, and the fourth is optional. The Debtor is the subject. The Amount, or the thing owed, is one direct object. The Creditor is an indirect object: the preposition a plus a noun, and the dative clitic le or les. The Cause/Ground, when it is written, is por. A de-phrase in that same ground slot is not the clause the debt entries print. The de they do print beside deber is the probability periphrasis, and that periphrasis is a different sense row.
DLE, transitive sense 4, glosses the verb as adeudar, “tener una deuda material,” and the line is Pedro debe cien euros a Juan. The sum cien euros is the direct object. a Juan is the Creditor. That line has no clitic and no por. The Diccionario del estudiante, transitive sense 3, “Tener la obligación de pagar (algo, espec. una cantidad de dinero),” prints me debes una cena, lo que te debo, and ¿Qué le debo por los dos cafés? English Wiktionary’s ditransitive gloss prints Le debo dinero al banco and Te debo una. Wikcionario’s transitive debt example is Le debo mucho por todo lo que hizo por mí.
Clitic doubling. The Nueva gramática básica, §20.2.2, says an indirect object has the shape a plus a nominal, and that it is doubled by a dative clitic. When the a-phrase is anteposed, the grammar’s own example makes the clitic obligatory: A los contribuyentes Hacienda les devolverá poco dinero. When the phrase is postposed, doubling is optional in some of its examples, parenthetical in Hacienda (les) devolverá dinero a los contribuyentes, and obligatory in others. A tonic pronoun as indirect object requires the clitic. Before a third-person direct-object clitic, le and les take the form se: the grammar’s pair is Vendió los cuadros a un coleccionista → Se los vendió. On deber, the doubled full noun is printed in the student dictionary’s gratitude line Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron, and in Le debo dinero al banco. Le debo 100 euros a Juan stacks the DLE’s creditor and sum with that clitic. It is constructed. It is not the DLE line, which has cien and no le.
Where this frame diverges from English owe. English prints two clothes for the Creditor beside the sum: a bare first object, owes me $5 and I owe Janet $50, and to after the sum, She still owes £3 000 to her father. Spanish prints one clothes for that person. The sum stays the direct object. The person is a, with or without le/les. There is no second bare object for Juan. A line with Juan bare before the euros is unprinted. It is not starred from a source, and it is not filed as a frame.
The modal is not this row. DLE sense 6 calls deber an auxiliary of uncertainty or probability, and the lines are Debe de hacer frío and Debieron de salir a pelear. The Diccionario del estudiante splits the auxiliary in two: sense 1, deber plus an infinitive, obligation, Puedes y debes aceptar el cargo; sense 2, deber de plus an infinitive, probability, Deben de ser las cinco. The RAE’s language note says deber + infinitive preferably marks obligation, and quotes Deberá ir cuanto antes, and that deber de + infinitive is the more usual probability periphrasis, Debe de haberle ocurrido algo. Those infinitive rows stay off the four places of ‘owe’.
The Debtor is the subject of the active debt clause: Pedro in the DLE line, the unspelled subject of debo and debes. The Amount or the thing owed is the direct object: cien euros, una cena, dinero, la vida, su nombre. The Creditor is a plus the person, doubled by le or les when the clitic is there. por is the ground of the debt or of the gratitude in the lines that print it. In the middle deberse a, the consequence is the subject, the cause stays in a, and the Creditor is absent.
Debt · direct object · a · clitic · por
✓ Pedro debe cien euros a Juan. DLE · sense 4 · direct object the sum · Creditor a Juan · no clitic · no por
✓ Le debo dinero al banco. · Te debo una. English Wiktionary · ditransitive · le doubles al banco · te with no a-phrase · una is the thing
✓ ¿Qué le debo por los dos cafés? Diccionario del estudiante · sense 3 · le · qué is the sum · por the cafés
✓ Le debo mucho por todo lo que hizo por mí. Wikcionario · transitive · por the ground · le with no spelled a-phrase
✓ He ganado la apuesta, me debes una cena. Diccionario del estudiante · sense 3 · dative me · direct object una cena
Pedro owes Juan a hundred euros · I owe the bank money · I owe you one · what do I owe you for the two coffees · I owe him a great deal for everything he did for me · you owe me a dinner
Gratitude · middle · modal, kept apart
✓ Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron. · Lo que has conseguido se lo debes a tu esfuerzo. Diccionario del estudiante · sense 5 · les doubles a los cirujanos · se lo is dative plus the direct object
✓ La escasez de los pastos se debe a la sequía. DLE · sense 5 · pronominal · the scarcity is the subject · a la sequía is the cause · no Creditor
✓ Puedes y debes aceptar el cargo. · Deben de ser las cinco. · Debe de hacer frío. Diccionario del estudiante · senses 1 and 2 · DLE sense 6 · infinitive rows · not the four places
he owes the surgeons his life · you owe what you have achieved to your effort · the scarcity of pasture is due to the drought · you can and must accept the post · it must be five o’clock · it must be cold
| Place | Introduced by (working) | Spanish marking | Status in the sources | Not this place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debtor | subject of deber | subject of the active; the verb agrees | Pedro debe · debo · debes · Les debe | the subject of se debe is the consequence, not a debtor |
| Amount / thing owed | what is due | one direct object | cien euros · una cena · dinero · una · qué · la vida · respeto y cariño | the number and the unit are not two places · an infinitive is the modal row |
| Creditor | the person the debt is toward | a + noun · dative le/les · se before lo/la | a Juan · al banco with le · a los cirujanos with les · te · me · se lo debes a tu esfuerzo | a bare noun before the sum, English owe John money, is unprinted · para is not the indirect-object preposition in the Nueva gramática básica |
| Cause / Ground | what the debt or the gratitude is for | por-PP in the printed debt and gratitude lines · de named for the same slot and unprinted there | por los dos cafés · por todo lo que hizo por mí · the student-dictionary schema of sense 5, “agradecido (por algo)” | deber de + infinitive is probability · a la sequía is the cause of the middle, not por |
| Sense row | Frame | Printed line | Not merged with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt · ‘owe’ | Debtor subject · direct object · a / le · optional por | Pedro debe cien euros a Juan · ¿Qué le debo por los dos cafés? | the infinitive rows |
| Moral / gratitude | same clothes · the object is not a sum | Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron · Le debes respeto y cariño · se lo debes a tu esfuerzo | the middle, which has no Creditor |
| Middle · deberse a | consequence as subject · cause in a · no Creditor | La escasez de los pastos se debe a la sequía · Mi mal humor se debe a que hoy todo me sale mal | the debt four places · also not the dedication Deberse a la patria |
| Modal · obligation | deber + infinitive | Puedes y debes aceptar el cargo · Deberá ir cuanto antes | the debt objects · the probability row |
| Modal · probability | deber de + infinitive | Debe de hacer frío · Deben de ser las cinco · Debe de haberle ocurrido algo | the obligation row, even where the RAE note records overlap |
Marking map. Read the noun, then the mark. One a belongs to more than one reading.
Each debt row lines up one Spanish slot with the mark English owe prints. The alignment is = where the slot is an object in both, or shift where English uses a bare Creditor or to and Spanish uses a plus a dative clitic. Printed lines come first. A constructed Spanish line reuses a printed marking. It is labelled constructed.
| Slot | ES form | EN form | Align | ES example | EN example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debtor | subject | subject | = | Pedro debe DLE | I owe Janet $50 Cambridge |
| Creditor | a · le/les | bare object, or to | shift · one Spanish frame · two English clothes | a Juan · al banco DLE · Wiktionary | owes me $5 · owes £3 000 to her father Merriam-Webster · Oxford |
| Amount | one direct object | one bare object | = of one object | cien euros DLE | you owe me ten dollars Cambridge Academic |
| Cause / Ground | por printed · de unprinted on the debt lines | for | = on por / for | por los dos cafés Diccionario del estudiante | for the ticket Cambridge English–French |
| Modal | deber + infinitive · deber de + infinitive | not a frame of owe | separate sense row | Debe de hacer frío DLE | the English page keeps modal ought off the four places |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame. The English cards are the two Creditor clothes. The Spanish debt card is the one dative frame.
ES · a · no clitic
Pedro debe cien euros a Juan.
DLE · sense 4 · direct object · a Juan · the line the English page already cites
Move English can put the person in a bare object. This line puts Juan in a.
ES · clitic doubling
Le debo dinero al banco.
English Wiktionary · le doubles al banco · gratitude twin Les debe la vida a los cirujanos
Same slot The clitic and the a-phrase are the same Creditor. They are not a second object.
EN · two objects
owes me $5
English owe · Merriam-Webster · person then sum · no Spanish bare twin printed
Move Spanish does not print Juan as a bare object before the euros. The person stays in a or in the clitic.
EN · to
She still owes £3 000 to her father.
English owe · Oxford · the other English line is the bare father
Split English has the bare object and to. Spanish has a plus the clitic, not a second preposition for the same person.
ES · por
¿Qué le debo por los dos cafés?
Diccionario del estudiante · sense 3 · ground por · English for
Same slot por matches English for the ticket. A de of this ground is unprinted on the debt lines.
ES · middle
La escasez de los pastos se debe a la sequía.
DLE · sense 5 · consequence subject · cause in a · Creditor absent
Split The Creditor is not in this clause. The cause is not the subject.
The modal is a separate sense row. Obligation is deber plus an infinitive: Puedes y debes aceptar el cargo, Debo cumplir la promesa que hice (Wikcionario), Deberá ir cuanto antes (RAE language note). Probability is deber de plus an infinitive: Debe de hacer frío, Debieron de salir a pelear, Deben de ser las cinco. The RAE note also records the overlap: deber + infinitive is extended to probability, Debe haberle ocurrido algo, and deber de + infinitive is sometimes obligation in educated use, Deberá de ir cuanto antes. The overlap is recorded. The two infinitive readings are still not the debt four places, and they are not merged with each other on this page.
Moral and gratitude keep the debt clothes. The object is not a sum. Student dictionary sense 4: Le debes respeto y cariño, Les debes, al menos, algo de gratitud, Me debes una explicación. Sense 5: Debía todo lo que era a sus padres, Lo que has conseguido se lo debes a tu esfuerzo, Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron. Sense 6, still active, still with a Creditor-like a: El pueblo debe su nombre a un santo, se lo debo a mi madre. Le debo la vida, with no surgeons and with singular le, is constructed from the surgeons line. Debérselo a alguien is the enclitic infinitive of the printed se lo … a. It is constructed. The English reading of that form is “owe it to someone.” That English string is not a quotation from the dictionaries opened here.
Middle deberse a drops the Creditor. DLE sense 5, “Tener por causa, ser consecuencia de,” used as a pronominal: La escasez de los pastos se debe a la sequía. The consequence is the subject. The cause remains the a-phrase. There is no person who is owed. The student dictionary’s sense 8 says the same with ser debido or deberse a algo: Mi mal humor se debe a que hoy todo me sale mal, La fiebre es debida a la infección. English Wiktionary’s reflexive gloss prints El incendio se debió a un cortocircuito. Dedication is a different pronominal: Deberse a la patria, Se debe por entero a su profesión, se debe a sus fans. The subject there is still the person who has the duty.
payGIVE · pagar is the transfer. Deber names the debt. Pagar is the page where a payer’s payment puts the amount with a recipient. This page does not treat Pedro debe cien euros a Juan as that transfer. payBILL · pagar takes the bill or the debt as its object. Dejar a deber, in dejando a deber el alquiler de dos meses, is the student dictionary’s debt line with dejar. It is not a second verb page.
The noun deber is not the verb frame. DLE’s masculine noun is the obligation, the debt, and, usually plural, the homework. The student dictionary prints Todos tenemos derechos y deberes and hagas los deberes. Those nouns are not arguments of the verb entry.
Conjugation. Wikcionario files deber under the regular paradigm of temer. The DLE’s own table prints the non-finite forms deber, debiendo, debido, and the present indicative debo, debes / debés, debe, debemos, debéis, deben. 501 Spanish Verbs (Kendris) is the conjugation manual for that regular -er set. This page does not quote a sentence from the book. The forms above are the DLE table.
Which object the clause treats as the object is the note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note. The direct object is the sum or the thing owed. The Creditor is not that object.
Argument difference. English owe allows a double object, owe John money, and owe money to John. Spanish deber has one frame for the Creditor: dative a, doubled by le or les. The sum stays one direct object.
Printed dictionary lines come first. A constructed line reuses a printed marking. It is labelled constructed.
Real · DLE · Diccionario del estudiante · Wikcionario · English Wiktionary · RAE note
✓ Pedro debe cien euros a Juan. DLE · sense 4
✓ Cuando cobre, te daré lo que te debo. · me debes una cena · ¿Qué le debo por los dos cafés? Diccionario del estudiante · sense 3
✓ Le debo dinero al banco. · Te debo una. English Wiktionary · ditransitive
✓ Le debo mucho por todo lo que hizo por mí. Wikcionario · transitive
✓ Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron. · se lo debes a tu esfuerzo Diccionario del estudiante · sense 5
✓ La escasez de los pastos se debe a la sequía. DLE · sense 5 · pronominal
✓ Puedes y debes aceptar el cargo. · Deben de ser las cinco. Diccionario del estudiante · auxiliary senses 1 and 2
✓ Debe de hacer frío. · Deberá ir cuanto antes. DLE sense 6 · RAE language note · modal rows
Constructed · the working frames
✓ Le debo 100 euros a Juan. constructed
I owe Juan 100 euros · the DLE line is Pedro debe cien euros a Juan, with cien and with no clitic · Le debo dinero al banco is the clitic plus a · the digits 100 and the name Juan are not one citation
✓ Le debo la vida. constructed
I owe him my life · the printed line is Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron · this line drops the surgeons and uses singular le
✓ Debérselo a alguien. constructed
owe it to someone · the printed pair is se lo debes a tu esfuerzo and se lo debo a mi madre · the infinitive puts those two clitics on deber · alguien fills the a-slot · the English gloss is the reading, not a quoted dictionary head
✓ A Juan le debo cien euros. constructed
Juan, I owe him a hundred euros · the Nueva gramática básica makes a fronted indirect object take the clitic, on the tax line A los contribuyentes Hacienda les devolverá poco dinero · the DLE order is the sum then a Juan, with no clitic · this line is not that citation
Pedro debe Juan cien euros. unprinted · not a filed frame
a bare Juan before the sum · English owe John money · the Spanish lines print a or a dative clitic · this order is not starred from a source
Each sketch is a working drawing. The debt drawing gives the Debtor to the subject, the Amount to one direct object, the Creditor to a and the dative clitic, and the ground to por. The gratitude drawing keeps those clothes and changes the object. The middle drawing gives the consequence to the subject and the cause to a, and it draws no Creditor. The modal drawing is a separate row. Open one sketch at a time. Which theta role is the object is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
DLE’s sum and Juan · Wiktionary’s clitic · working, revisable
[ —
[ √deber
[ cien euros ]
[ a Juan ]
[ le ] ] ] ← subject Debtor: Pedro, or the ending of debo
← one direct object
← Creditor in a
← le doubles a when it is there
← DLE has no le · Wiktionary has le
Pedro debe cien euros a Juan is the line without the clitic. Le debo dinero al banco is the line with it. Le debo 100 euros a Juan is constructed. The tree does not put Juan in a bare object.
✓ Pedro debe cien euros a Juan. DLE
✓ Le debo dinero al banco. English Wiktionary
✓ Le debo 100 euros a Juan. constructed
The cafés line · working, revisable
[ —
[ √deber
[ qué ]
[ le ]
[ por los dos cafés ] ] ] ← the sum asked
← Creditor clitic, no a-phrase
← por is the ground
← deber de + infinitive is not this por
Le debo mucho por todo lo que hizo por mí is the same por of the debt verb. The por inside hizo por mí belongs to hizo. A de-phrase of the ground is not drawn. No debt line opened here prints one.
✓ ¿Qué le debo por los dos cafés? Diccionario del estudiante
✓ Le debo mucho por todo lo que hizo por mí. Wikcionario
The same clothes, a different object · working, revisable
[ —
[ √deber
[ la vida ]
[ a los cirujanos ]
[ les ] ] ] ← direct object is not a sum
← les doubles a los cirujanos
← se lo is the other printed pair
← debérselo is the infinitive of that pair
se lo debes a tu esfuerzo is the direct-object clitic lo plus dative se, the form the grammar gives le before lo. Le debo la vida and debérselo a alguien are constructed.
✓ Les debe la vida a los cirujanos que lo operaron. Diccionario del estudiante
✓ Lo que has conseguido se lo debes a tu esfuerzo. Diccionario del estudiante
The consequence is the subject · working, revisable
[ —
[ √deberse
[ a la sequía ] ] ] ← subject: la escasez, the consequence
← a is the cause
← the cause does not become the subject
← no le · no Creditor
Deberse a la patria and se debe a sus fans are the dedication pronominal. They are not drawn on this tree. The subject there is the person.
✓ La escasez de los pastos se debe a la sequía. DLE
✓ El incendio se debió a un cortocircuito. English Wiktionary · reflexive
Two infinitive rows, unmerged · working, revisable
[ —
[ √deber (+ de)
[ infinitive ] ] ] ← obligation: deber + infinitive
← probability: deber de + infinitive
← no Amount · no Creditor · no por of a debt
← not merged with cien euros
The RAE note records that each periphrasis is sometimes used for the other reading. This sketch still draws two rows. Neither row takes cien euros or a Juan.
✓ Deberá ir cuanto antes. RAE language note · obligation
✓ Debe de hacer frío. DLE · probability
Working paper · October 2026 · Spanish micro-entry
Deber puts the Debtor in the subject. The Amount or the thing owed is one direct object. The Creditor is a, doubled by le or les. por is the printed ground. The modal infinitive rows, and middle deberse a, are not that frame.
Spanish frames: Diccionario de la lengua española (Real Academia Española), deber, senses 1–6 of the verb, the noun, and the conjugation table. Diccionario del estudiante (Real Academia Española), deber, auxiliary senses 1–2 and transitive senses 3–6, pronominal senses 7–8. The RAE language note on deber and deber de. Nueva gramática básica de la lengua española, §20.2.2, on the indirect object, a, dative clitics, doubling, and se before lo. English Wiktionary, Spanish deber, ditransitive and reflexive. Wikcionario, deber, and the regular paradigm of temer. 501 Spanish Verbs (Kendris) is the conjugation manual for that regular set; no sentence from it is quoted. English clothes are the lines already on owe · English. Constructed clauses reuse a printed marking. Le debo 100 euros a Juan, Le debo la vida, Debérselo a alguien, and A Juan le debo cien euros are not single citations. Pedro debe Juan cien euros is unprinted.
Records deber with the Debtor as subject, the Amount as one direct object, the Creditor as a plus le/les, and the printed ground as por. Records the modal infinitives and middle deberse a as separate rows. Records Le debo 100 euros a Juan, Le debo la vida, Debérselo a alguien, and A Juan le debo cien euros as constructed.