Theory of Semileptonic Charm Decays

A brief review of the theoretical description of exclusive and inclusive semileptonic charm decays is given. In light of the recent experimental puzzles in leptonic charm decays, the complementary role of semileptonic modes is emphasized. The relevance of semileptonic charm decay studies to the precise determination of the Vub CKM matrix element from semileptonic B decays is also discussed. Some interesting and important theoretical challenges are mentioned.