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Из-за тебя я ухаживала за твоим товарищем, и вот он встал на ноги. А мне никто ничего не должен. Я, значит, всем должна?
Меня всегда учили, что должен значит то же, что и should. Видимо, здесь это не так. Как бы лучше всего понять значение слова должен в этом контексте? Может, у меня обязанности перед кем-либо?
This passage might mean something like that:
I've been taking care of your friend, and look at him now, back on his feet. But none owes me anything. So what, was it me who owed everyone?
Russian modal должен (that without nominal object) does not really distinguish between "be" (as in "you are to do smth."), "ought" (= "owed"), "should" or "must", it requires context to understand.
However, when used with the nominal object in dative (быть должным кому-то), it means "to owe someone".
It's like this (the literal meaning of должен here is 'to be in debt'):
I've been taking care of your mate, now he's on his own feet again. Looks like no one owes me anything. Does that all mean I'm the only one who always owes everyone?
В данном случае можно сказать, что "должен", "должна" означает наличие обязательств перед кем-то.
А мне никто ничего не должен. Я, значит, всем должна? - А передо мной ни у кого нет никаких обязательств. А у меня, значит, есть обязательства перед всеми?
In this case we can say that "must", "must" means that there are commitments in front of someone.
And I don't have to. I mean, everyone needs? - In front of me and no one has any obligations. And I have, therefore, has obligations to all?
