debere

Debere is a Latin verb meaning to owe, to owe someone something, or to ought/must. Used transitively, it expresses obligations or debts and can denote both financial and moral duties. In canonical Latin grammar, the verb appears as debeō in the first person singular and as the present active infinitive debēre; its principal parts are debeō, debēre, debuī, debitum. It belongs to the second conjugation, characterized by the ending -ēre in the present active infinitive.

Conjugation and forms follow the standard patterns of the second conjugation. Present indicative active forms include debeō, debes, debet, debēmus, debētis, debent. Imperfect forms are debēbam, debēbās, debēbat, debēbāmus, debēbatis, debēbant. The future is debēbō, debēbīs, debēbit, debēbimus, debēbitis, debēbunt. Perfect uses include debuī (with the auxiliary debitum as the supine-derived participle). The verb commonly appears with a dative of the person to whom the obligation is owed and an accusative of the thing owed, e.g., Marcus tibi pecuniam debet, “Marcus owes you money.”

Usage and nuance center on obligation, debt, and duty. Debēre can express moral duty as in “one ought to do something” (debeō facere). It also occurs in legal and financial contexts to describe indebtedness or obligations arising from contracts or promises. In many Romance languages, debēre has evolved into verbs such as deber (Spanish), devoir (French), and dovere (Italian), preserving the core sense of obligation and debt.

See also debt, obligation, cognate verbs in Romance languages.