Soler + infinitivo is one of those Spanish constructions that has no clean English equivalent — and that is exactly why it is so worth learning. Suelo desayunar a las ocho, solemos cenar tarde, solían viajar mucho cuando eran jóvenes. English would lean on adverbs like usually, often, or tend to; Spanish builds the meaning into the verb itself. Once you start using soler, your Spanish will sound noticeably more native — and you will stop reaching for normalmente in every other sentence.
The structure
Two pieces, no preposition between them:
- The verb soler conjugated to match the subject.
- An infinitive — directly, with no connecting word.
Soler takes the infinitive the same way poder does: no que, no de, no a. Just soler + infinitive.
| Subject | soler (present) |
| Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | suelo | suelo desayunar | I usually have breakfast |
| tú | sueles | sueles desayunar | you usually have breakfast |
| él / ella / usted | suele | suele desayunar | he/she/you (formal) usually has breakfast |
| nosotros / nosotras | solemos | solemos desayunar | we usually have breakfast |
| vosotros / vosotras | soléis | soléis desayunar | you (all) usually have breakfast |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | suelen | suelen desayunar | they / you (formal plural) usually have breakfast |
Suelo desayunar a las ocho antes de salir al trabajo.
I usually have breakfast at eight before leaving for work.
Mis padres suelen cenar a las nueve y media.
My parents usually have dinner at nine-thirty.
¿Soléis ir al gimnasio por las mañanas?
Do you (all) usually go to the gym in the mornings?
What "usually" actually means here
Soler expresses habitual action — something that happens regularly, as a matter of pattern. It is the verb you use when describing what you do most days, most weekends, most of the time. It carries no implication that the action will continue forever, and no implication that exceptions are impossible. It is just a statement of the typical pattern.
Los domingos solemos comer en casa de mis abuelos.
On Sundays we usually eat at my grandparents' house.
No suelo beber café por la tarde, me quita el sueño.
I don't usually drink coffee in the afternoon, it stops me from sleeping.
En verano suele hacer mucho calor en Madrid.
In summer it's usually very hot in Madrid.
The conjugation: another o → ue stem-changer
Soler follows the same o → ue stem change as poder, dormir, encontrar, volver. The stem vowel changes in the forms where it carries the stress, and stays as o where the ending is stressed.
- Stressed stem (vowel changes): yo suelo, tú sueles, él suele, ellos suelen.
- Unstressed stem (vowel stays o): nosotros solemos, vosotros soléis.
The vosotros form soléis carries a written accent on the é and stays in two syllables (so-LÉIS). It is a perfectly normal everyday form in Spain.
¿Qué soléis hacer los fines de semana?
What do you (all) usually do on weekends?
The defective verb: no future, no conditional, no imperative
Here is the unusual thing about soler: it is a defective verb, meaning it does not conjugate in all tenses. Spanish speakers use it only in:
- Present indicative: suelo, sueles, suele...
- Imperfect indicative: solía, solías, solía...
- Present subjunctive: suela, suelas, suela... (rare but exists)
- Perfect tenses with the auxiliary haber: he solido, había solido... (also rare)
You will never see future or conditional forms in everyday Spanish: soleré and solería are essentially nonexistent. The imperative does not exist either — you cannot command someone to habitually do something. The preterite solí, soliste technically exists in grammar books but sounds wrong to native ears and is essentially unused.
When you need a future or conditional sense, you switch construction: instead of I will usually + verb, Spanish would use normalmente + future, or simply restate with the imperfect after the timeframe has passed.
Normalmente cogeré el metro al trabajo.
I'll usually take the metro to work. (no '*soleré*' — use 'normalmente' + future)
The imperfect solía: past habits
The other tense where soler shines is the imperfect, used to describe past habits — things you used to do regularly but maybe don't anymore. This is the Spanish equivalent of English "used to."
| Subject | soler (imperfect) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| yo | solía | I used to |
| tú | solías | you used to |
| él / ella / usted | solía | he/she/you (formal) used to |
| nosotros / nosotras | solíamos | we used to |
| vosotros / vosotras | solíais | you (all) used to |
| ellos / ellas / ustedes | solían | they / you (formal plural) used to |
De pequeña solía pasar los veranos en casa de mis abuelos en el pueblo.
As a little girl I used to spend summers at my grandparents' house in the village.
Antes solíamos quedar todos los viernes, pero desde que tuvimos hijos casi no nos vemos.
We used to meet every Friday, but since we had kids we hardly see each other.
Mi abuelo solía contarnos historias de la guerra antes de dormir.
My grandfather used to tell us stories about the war before bed.
This is a tighter, more elegant way of saying "used to" than the bare imperfect pasaba, quedábamos, contaba — because solía + infinitive explicitly marks the action as habitual, leaving no ambiguity about whether the speaker means "I was passing summers at my grandparents'" (one-off background) or "I used to pass summers at my grandparents'" (habit). The imperfect alone can mean either; solía + infinitive can only mean habit.
Soler vs frequency adverbs
A natural question: why use soler when you can just say normalmente desayuno a las ocho or casi siempre cenamos tarde? Three reasons:
It is lighter. Suelo desayunar a las ocho is four words; Normalmente desayuno a las ocho is five and feels a bit more pointed. Soler embeds the habit into the verb itself rather than spelling it out with an adverb.
It is the Spanish default. Spaniards reach for soler in casual speech far more often than English speakers reach for "usually." If you only use frequency adverbs, your Spanish will sound slightly translated.
It is more flexible across tenses. Solía + infinitive covers "used to" cleanly. Normalmente + imperfect can work, but it is wordier.
Suelo ir andando al trabajo.
I usually walk to work.
Normalmente voy andando al trabajo.
I normally walk to work. (also fine, slightly more emphatic)
Casi siempre voy andando al trabajo.
I almost always walk to work. (stronger frequency claim)
All three are correct. The first sounds most natural in everyday peninsular speech.
Negation: no suelo + infinitive
To say "I don't usually..." simply place no before the conjugated form of soler. This is the most natural way to describe an action that is not part of your routine.
No suelo salir entre semana, prefiero descansar.
I don't usually go out during the week, I'd rather rest.
No solemos ver la tele por las noches.
We don't usually watch TV at night.
No suele llover en Madrid en agosto.
It doesn't usually rain in Madrid in August.
Pronoun placement
Object and reflexive pronouns follow the same rule as with other verb + infinitive constructions: before soler or attached to the infinitive. Both placements are equally common and equally correct.
Me suelo levantar a las siete.
I usually get up at seven. (reflexive before soler)
Suelo levantarme a las siete.
I usually get up at seven. (reflexive attached to infinitive)
Te suelo llamar los domingos.
I usually call you on Sundays.
Suelo llamarte los domingos.
I usually call you on Sundays.
How this differs from English
English has no single verb for habitual action. Instead, English speakers stack adverbs ("usually," "normally," "typically," "tend to") onto regular verbs. The closest single-word match is the semi-modal "tend to," but even that one is less common in speech than the adverbs.
Spanish soler is genuinely closer to the German pflegen zu or the French avoir l'habitude de — a verb whose entire job is to mark another verb as habitual. Learning to reach for it instead of normalmente is one of the cleanest ways to shed a "translated from English" feel in your Spanish.
The trade-off: because soler is defective, you cannot use it everywhere. In future and conditional contexts, Spanish reverts to adverbs (normalmente + future), and so will you.
En España la gente suele cenar tarde.
In Spain people usually eat dinner late. (suele as the natural choice)
En España la gente tiende a cenar tarde.
In Spain people tend to eat dinner late. (also correct, slightly more formal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Suelo a desayunar a las ocho.
Incorrect — 'soler' takes the infinitive directly, with no preposition between them.
✅ Suelo desayunar a las ocho.
I usually have breakfast at eight.
❌ Solo cenar tarde.
Incorrect — 'solo' (without accent) means 'only'. The verb form is 'suelo' (o → ue change).
✅ Suelo cenar tarde.
I usually have dinner late.
❌ Mañana soleré ir al gimnasio.
Incorrect — 'soler' has no future form. Use 'normalmente' + future or restructure.
✅ Mañana iré al gimnasio como suelo hacer.
Tomorrow I'll go to the gym as I usually do.
❌ Suelo siempre desayunar a las ocho.
Redundant — 'soler' already conveys 'usually'. Adding 'siempre' clashes.
✅ Suelo desayunar a las ocho. / Siempre desayuno a las ocho.
I usually have breakfast at eight. / I always have breakfast at eight.
❌ Solí ir al cine los sábados de joven.
The preterite 'solí' is essentially unused. Use the imperfect 'solía' for past habits.
✅ Solía ir al cine los sábados de joven.
I used to go to the cinema on Saturdays when I was young.
❌ ¡Suele cenar pronto!
The imperative of 'soler' doesn't exist — you can't command someone to habitually do something.
✅ Cena pronto. / Acostúmbrate a cenar pronto.
Have dinner early. / Get used to eating dinner early.
Key Takeaways
- Soler + infinitivo expresses habitual action: suelo desayunar a las ocho ("I usually have breakfast at eight"). It is the everyday way Spaniards describe routines.
- The infinitive follows soler directly, with no preposition between them.
- Soler is an o → ue stem-changing verb: suelo, sueles, suele, solemos, soléis, suelen. The vosotros form is soléis.
- Soler is a defective verb: it has no future, no conditional, no imperative, and the preterite solí is essentially unused. It lives almost entirely in the present and the imperfect.
- The imperfect solía + infinitive is the elegant way to say "used to" — more explicit than the bare imperfect about habituality.
- Negate with no suelo + infinitive ("I don't usually...").
- Pronouns go either before soler (me suelo levantar) or attached to the infinitive (suelo levantarme).
- Learning to use soler instead of normalmente is one of the fastest ways to make your Spanish sound less translated.
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- Imperfecto para acciones habitualesA2 — The imperfect's bread-and-butter use: things you used to do in the past, things you would do on a regular basis, patterns and routines that repeated themselves. If English would say 'used to' or habitual 'would', Spanish uses the imperfect.
- Adverbios de frecuencia: siempre, a menudo, a vecesA1 — The peninsular frequency adverbs ranked from always to never, including the double-negation rule that lets nunca appear either before or after the verb, the a veces / algunas veces / de vez en cuando distinctions, and counting expressions (una vez por semana, dos veces al mes).
- Tener que + infinitivo: obligación personalA1 — The everyday Spanish way to say 'I have to' — tengo que + infinitive for personal obligations, requirements, and necessities.
- Acabar de + infinitivo: pasado recienteA2 — The Spanish construction for the immediate recent past — acabo de llegar means 'I just arrived'. Only present and imperfect carry this meaning.