[Spanish] Conditional vs Preterite with deber, haber and poder

[Jaleel10]

My grammatically challenged brain has not prepared me for this question but please bear with me xD.

Debería haber hecho eso.
vs
Debí haber hecho eso.



Both mean ''I should have done that'' but let's say I had to translate it to Spanish. Which one would I use? What essentially is the difference between them?

Mucha gente podría haber muerto.

vs

Mucha gente pudo haber muerto.

Same issue really.

Another one:

Quería saber si hay una diferencia entre ¨debería haber ido¨ y ¨debí haber ido¨. O sea, no necesariamente entre esas dos frases, sino entre el uso del condicional y el preterito en este caso, para decir ¨I should have¨.

En el presente ¨debería¨ significa ¨should¨ y ¨debo¨ significa ¨must¨ or ¨have to¨. Es igual en el pasado? O sea que debí es más fuerte que debería?

Final one:

Me habría salido con la mía si no fuera por ustedes, niños entrometidos y ese estúpido perro.

vs

Me hubiera salido con la mía si no fuera por ustedes, niños entrometidos y ese estúpido perro.

[James29]

There are drills and an explanation in FSI that go into detail on the "difference" between the two phrases in your "final" example. It is a matter of preference and regional usage.

[Jaleel10]

There are drills and an explanation in FSI that go into detail on the "difference" between the two phrases in your "final" example. It is a matter of preference and regional usage.

Thanks, James

[Querneus]

My grammatically challenged brain has not prepared me for this question but please bear with me xD.

Debería haber hecho eso.
vs
Debí haber hecho eso.



Both mean ''I should have done that'' but let's say I had to translate it to Spanish. Which one would I use? What essentially is the difference between them?

Mucha gente podría haber muerto.

vs

Mucha gente pudo haber muerto.

Same issue really.

Another one:

Quería saber si hay una diferencia entre ¨debería haber ido¨ y ¨debí haber ido¨. O sea, no necesariamente entre esas dos frases, sino entre el uso del condicional y el preterito en este caso, para decir ¨I should have¨.

En el presente ¨debería¨ significa ¨should¨ y ¨debo¨ significa ¨must¨ or ¨have to¨. Es igual en el pasado? O sea que debí es más fuerte que debería?

I usually say the debería haber hecho version, but honestly I can hardly perceive any difference between the two.

Final one:

Me habría salido con la mía si no fuera por ustedes, niños entrometidos y ese estúpido perro.

vs

Me hubiera salido con la mía si no fuera por ustedes, niños entrometidos y ese estúpido perro.

Both versions are widely used. I usually say hubiera hecho in this case, but that's because Central American dialects are very fond of the subjunctive in the main clause of conditions. I believe that habría hecho is overall more common. The RAE in its handbook grammar doesn't comment on these variants at all, but simply lists them:

[E]l período IRREAL es el que corresponde a la pauta Si {HUBIERA ~ HUBIESE} TENIDO, {HUBIERA ~ HUBIESE ~ HABRÍA} DADO.

--RAE, Nueva gramática de la lengua española (versión MANUAL), section 47.4.1.b, page 911.

[Jaleel10]

I usually say the debería haber hecho version, but honestly I can hardly perceive any difference between the two.

I was anxiously waiting for your answer

Funny you say that because I have friend who says this (although most of them agree with your statement) :

Deberia haber hecho eso is something you say when you think about what you should have done but you actually didn't do nothing.

Debi haber hecho eso is when you did something different, but you did do something.

That actually made sense to me. Would you say it this safe to interpret this way?