modal verbs - Past tense of "must" when meaning logical probability


I'm wondering how to say this sentence in the past tense:



He must be very clever



I have seen that the past tense of "must" is "have to" but it doesn't sound good to me to say something like "he had to be very clever" because it may mean that it was compulsory to be clever for him but I mean that he was probably clever.


Maybe the sentence "He should be very clever" may be more appropriate, but I'm not sure if this has a meaning of past.



Answer



Try the alternative:



He must have been very clever.



It has the meaning of past.


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