Stan ha de saber qué pájaro es

[Tyrn]

Hi,

Stan would know what it was

ha de saber; What kind of grammar is this?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Spanish grammar?

In this context, it's a guess. I think Stan knows about birds, so he must know which one this is.


- Tocan a la puerta. Ha de ser Pepe. -> I'm expecting Pepe to come and visit me, so I guess it must be him knocking at the door.
- No sé por qué me siento mal. Han de ser los achaques de la edad. -> I feel so old, I assume that the fact I'm feeling ill must because of that.
- No les preguntes a ellos. No han de saber nada. -> Don't bother asking them. They must not know anything.
- Quiero salir pero hace rato había un oso afuera. Ha de seguir ahí. -> I want to go out, but there was a bear outside a few minutes ago. It must still be there.

[Tyrn]

Is this another way to say have/has to? Like tener que?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Not in this context. "Tener que" rather implies that something is compulsory or that there is need for something, but here I'm only guessing from the information I have. Yet, there is a similar meaning when using "deber de + infinitive":

- Stan debe de saber qué pájaro es éste.
- ...debe de ser Pepe.
- ...deben de ser los achaques de la edad.
- ...no deben de saber nada.
- ...debe de seguir ahí.

Here, the expression "deber de" works as a guess too, there is no obligation.