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¿Suelen los peatones respetar el semáforo?

¿Suelen los peatones respetar el semáforo?
Do pedestrians usually respect the traffic light?
From Lesson 167:Past habits (solía)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¿Suelen los peatones respetar el semáforo?

The lesson is about the imperfect of soler, but this sentence uses suelen. Why?
Suelen is the present tense of soler. While the lesson focuses on the imperfect form (solían - they used to), it is also very common in the present tense to ask about current habits. Here, it translates to "Do they usually...?" and works exactly the same way: conjugated soler + infinitive.
Why is the subject los peatones placed between suelen and respetar?
In Spanish questions, the subject often directly follows the conjugated verb. You could also say ¿Los peatones suelen respetar el semáforo?, but putting the verb first (¿Suelen los peatones...?) is a very natural and common way to form a yes/no question.
How does the verb soler work with respetar here?
The verb soler means "to be in the habit of" or "to tend to." It acts as a helper verb and is always followed by an infinitive (unconjugated) verb. Here, suelen respetar literally means "they are in the habit of respecting," which we naturally translate as "they usually respect."
Why use respetar for a traffic light instead of a word like "obey"?
In Spanish, respetar (to respect) is the standard verb used for obeying laws, rules, and traffic signals like el semáforo. You will often hear phrases like respetar las reglas (to follow the rules) or respetar las señales de tránsito (to obey traffic signs).

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