The verb “soler” in Spanish – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on the Spanish verb soler.

soler means to usually, habitually or frequently do something.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use the verb “soler” in sentences.

You will also find a Quiz and Exercises to practice.

Conjugations of “soler”

First, let’s review the conjugations of soler in a couple of tenses: the Present and the Imperfect.

These are the two tenses in which “soler” is most frequently conjugated:

	Present Tense	Imperfect tense
yo	suelo	solía
tú	sueles	solías
él	suele	solía
nosotros	solemos	solíamos
vosotros	soléis	solíais
ellos	suelen	solían

Use of “soler”

We usually conjugate soler either in Present Tense (for habitual actions in the present) or Imperfect Tense (for habitual actions in the past).

Then, right after soler, we place the Infinitive of the verb that expresses the action.

Examples in Present Tense:

Yo suelo jugar al tenis con mi tío.
I usually play tennis with my uncle.

¿Tú sueles venir a este bar?
Do you often come to this bar?

Nosotros no solemos hablar en francés.
We don’t usually speak French.

In Imperfect Tense:

De pequeño, yo solía venir a este parque.
As a child, I used to come to this park.

Cuando teníamos 20 años, solíamos beber mucho.
When we were 20, we used to drink a lot.

Tú no solías hablar así.
You didn’t use to talk like this.

Using “soler” means less words like “normalmente”

By using “soler”, we can build shorter, more elegant sentences without words like “normalmente, habitualmente, a menudo…”.

For example, the following pairs of sentences have the same meaning:

• Yo ceno aquí normalmente.
• Yo suelo cenar aquí.
  Both mean “I usually dine here”

• A menudo estudiamos juntos.
• Solemos estudiar juntos.
  Both mean “We often study together”

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about the verb “soler”:

Exercise 1

In this exercise, we practice “soler” for habitual actions in the present.

Fill the gaps with “soler” in Present Tense. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) Tú sueles venir aquí.
You come here often.

2) Yo suelo comer en esta pizzería.
I usually eat at this pizzeria.

3) Pablo y yo solemos quedar los fines de semana.
Pablo and I usually meet on weekends.

4) Mis amigos suelen jugar al fútbol en este campo.
My friends usually play soccer on this field.

5) Vosotras soléis ir al gimnasio.
You girls usually go to the gym.

6) El profesor suele mandar tareas.
The teacher usually sends homework.

Exercise 2

In this exercise, we practice “soler” for habitual actions in the past.

Fill the gaps with “soler” in Imperfect Tense:

1) De pequeños, vosotros solíais contar muchos chistes.
When you guys were little, you used to tell many jokes.

2) Cuando yo tenía 15 años, no solía estudiar mucho.
When I was 15, I didn’t use to study much.

3) De niño, tú solías ser travieso.
As a child, you used to be naughty.