The verb soler + infinitive expresses habitual actions—things that someone usually, typically, or customarily does. It's the most elegant way in Spanish to say "I usually do X" without resorting to longer phrases like normalmente or por lo general.
Soler is a stem-changing verb (o → ue) in the present tense, and unlike most verbs, it's only conjugated in two tenses: present and imperfect. You won't see it in the preterite, future, or conditional.
Formation
Conjugate soler in the present or imperfect, and add an infinitive directly—no preposition.
| Subject | Soler (present) | Soler (imperfect) |
|---|---|---|
| yo | suelo | solía |
| tú | sueles | solías |
| él/ella/usted | suele | solía |
| nosotros | solemos | solíamos |
| ustedes/ellos | suelen | solían |
Present: Current Habits
In the present, soler describes what someone habitually does now:
Los domingos solemos almorzar con la familia.
On Sundays we usually have lunch with the family.
¿Sueles hacer ejercicio por la mañana?
Do you usually exercise in the morning?
Imperfect: Past Habits
In the imperfect, solía + infinitive describes what someone used to do—habits that belong to the past and may no longer be current. It overlaps closely with the regular imperfect tense but adds a stronger sense of "habitually".
Cuando era niño, solía jugar fútbol en la calle.
When I was a kid, I used to play soccer in the street.
Mis abuelos solían visitarnos todos los veranos.
My grandparents used to visit us every summer.
Why No Preterite, Future, or Conditional?
Because soler expresses habit, it fundamentally clashes with the preterite, which describes completed actions at a specific moment. You cannot say solí ir al cine because habitual actions don't happen at a single finished point.
The same logic rules out the future and conditional: habits that are hypothetical or future-oriented are expressed with other constructions, such as normalmente, por lo general, or the plain simple tenses.
| Valid | Invalid |
|---|---|
| Suelo caminar. (present) | Solí caminar. (preterite — NO) |
| Solía caminar. (imperfect) | Soleré caminar. (future — NO) |
Register and Usage
Soler sounds slightly more educated or literate than the fully interchangeable normalmente + verb. Both are correct, but soler is especially common in writing, journalism, and careful speech:
Los lunes suelen ser los días más pesados de la semana.
Mondays are usually the heaviest days of the week.
Normalmente los lunes son los días más pesados.
Normally, Mondays are the heaviest days.
With Negative and Question Forms
No suelo comer postre después de cenar.
I don't usually eat dessert after dinner.
With Object Pronouns
Object pronouns can go before the conjugated verb or attach to the infinitive:
La suelo ver los martes. / Suelo verla los martes.
I usually see her on Tuesdays.
For ongoing or duration-based actions, see llevar + gerund.
Related Topics
- Poder + Infinitive (Can/Be Able)A2 — Use poder + infinitive to express ability, permission, or possibility in Spanish.
- Llevar + Gerund (Have Been Doing For...)B2 — Use llevar + time + gerund to express how long someone has been doing an ongoing action.
- Usage: Habitual ActionsA2 — Using the imperfect tense to describe habitual, repeated actions in the past — the equivalent of English 'used to do' and 'would do'.