Quedar a deber

This is a chunk my suegra uses ALL. THE. TIME. when talking about owing money. ¡Pero ojo 👀! The nuance here is that you were expected to pay the full amount, but didn’t have enough, so were left owing. That’s why it’s super common when a shopkeeper lets you off a few pesos! ➡️ Fui a la tienda a comprar pollo, pero no me alcanzó; les quedé a deber 3 pesos. = I went to the store to buy chicken, but I didn’t have enough money on me, so I still owe them 3 pesos. So yeah, a rough English translation could be: 👉 to still owe (someone money) 💡 Notice that little les before quedé a deber? That specifies WHO the money is owed to. Also note that even though the debt still exists in the present, the verb quedar is in the preterite. That’s because the key event is the moment the payment attempt happened and left you owing.