Quote:
Originally Posted by yevrah
My understanding was that "haber de" + inf suggests obligation in a similar (if more formal) way to "tener que". But "I doubt that he will have finished his homework..." doesn't suggest any obligation (On the other hand "I doubt that he will have to finish..." does).
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"haya de terminar" doesn't imply any obligation here; you are thinking of "ha de terminar" said before the completion of that task.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yevrah
"Dudo que haya terminado" is what confuses me as it seems to mean both "I doubt he has (ever) finished" (past), or "I doubt he will have finished" (future perfect). Am I right that it is ambiguous?
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It depends on the time the speaker is mentally standing while saying the sentence. In this case, it's sunrise time for him and the speaker is about to confirm their doubts or be surprised by the outcome:
Me sorprendería que haya terminado antes del amanecer ¿Cómo? ¿Terminó? ¡Vaya, vaya!
With "haya de terminar" the conditional doesn't work -in fact, it's
agramatical- because this structure is progressive: the speaker is comfortably standing at the moment he speaks and expressing his doubt about the completion of that process.
Some examples from CREA and CORDE
«En cualquier caso, la tónica financiero-monetaria con que haya de terminar la semana, depende, por todo y para todo, de la incógnita convenio-no convenio presupuestario.»
«144. Todo procesado cuya causa haya de terminar por sentencia del Consejo de guerra ó del supremo de Guerra y Marina, tiene derecho á elegir defensor.» (this text is from 1890, hence the stress mark in one-syllable words) Here, haya de terminar doesn't mean they have to, but they end up doing it by whatever valid reason.