I should have known

[poli]

This is an English usage that, when translated, doesn't seem to work. I have never really attempted to say it in Spanish, but would you say, debería haber sabido? It sounds awful to me.

[Rusty]

Yep! That's the way it's said.

[poli]

Wow, it seems awkward! I guess would be followed by an imperfect subjunctive
like , debería haber sabido hubiera ido a la fiesta.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I think you have in mind different constructions, Poli.

When you use "debería haber sabido", you are in a situation where a bad outcome could have been foreseen in the past, but wasn't, and the consequence is implied:

- Debería haber sabido que no ibas a venir a la fiesta.
I should have known you wouldn't come to the party. (I invited you even knowing you might not come.)
- Deberías haber sabido que no tenías que salir de la casa.
You should have known that you didn't have to leave the house. (But you got out anyway.)
- Deberíamos haber sabido que el avión no iba a salir por mal tiempo.
We should have known the plane wouldn't leave because of the bad weather. (And we still expected it would take off.)


And when you use "de haber sabido ______, no habría _____", the bad outcome couldn't have been foreseen in the past, and the consequence is made explicit:

- De haber sabido que no vendrías a la fiesta, no te habría invitado.
If I had known you wouldn't come to the party, I wouldn't have invited you.
- De haber sabido que no tenías que salir de casa, no lo habrías hecho.
If you had known you didn't have to leave the house, you wouldn't have.
- De haber sabido que el avión no iba a despegar por el mal tiempo, no habríamos venido al aeropuerto.
If we had known the plane wouldn't take off because of the bad weather, we wouldn't have come to the airport.


These last constructions can also be expressed by: "Si hubiera sabido..."

- Si hubiera sabido que no vendrías a la fiesta, no te habría invitado. (Some speakers may also say: "...no te hubiera invitado".)
- Si hubieras sabido que no debías salir de la casa, no lo habrías/hubieras hecho.
- Si hubiéramos sabido que el avión no iba a despegar, no habríamos/hubiéramos venido al aeropuerto.