Devo lavare i piatti ogni giorno = I have to clean the dishes every day

I must / have to wash the dishes / to wash up … every day

Dovevo lavare i piatti ogni giorno
I had to clean THE dishes every day

I had to wash the dishes every day

Non dovevo lavare i piatti ogni giorno, solo ogni due giorni 

I hadn’t to wash the dishes every day, but only every two days

I didn’t have to wash the dishes every day, only every other day.

Non potevo invitare gli amici a casa

I wasn’t allowed to invite my friends at home

I couldn’t invite / I wasn’t allowed to invite... friends home / at home / to my house

Dovevo indossare una uniforme

I had to wear a uniform

I had to wear a uniform

Non dovevamo svegliarti noi toccava a Tom

We didn’t have to wake you up, it was Tom’s turn
We didn’t have to wake you up, it was Tom’s job

Dovrei telefonarti
I should call you
Avrei dovuto telefonarti
I should have called you
I

I should have called you

Non dovevamo svegliarti, avevi bisogno di dormire

We didn’t have to wake you up, you needed to sleep (needed sleep)

Questa traduzione non va bene perchè “dovevamo” vale “avremmo dovuto”; inoltre “have” in forma negative nel senso di dovere esprime l’assenza di obbligo.

We shouldn’t have woken you up, you needed sleep

We shouldn’t have wakened you up, you needed sleep. (non usare ‘we didn’t have to’ perchè qui ‘non dovevamo’ sta per ‘non avremmo dovuto’)

Non avrebbe dovuto telefonarti

He shouldn’t have called you

He shouldn’t have called you.

Ho cercato di aggiustare l’auto ma non ci sono riuscito perché non avevo gli attrezzi giusti.

I tried to repair the car but I couldn’t because I didn’t have the right tools. (‘could’ usato nel senso di potevo e non di ‘potrei) è piu’ comune nella forma negativa e nella forma positiva con i verbi di percezione (smell, hear, feel, etc.)