"Soler" vs. Imperfect
I have recently learned in Spanish that the imperfect tense can be translated to "used to" for example: "viviamos aqui pero nos mudamos" means "We used to live here but we moved" My question is: can we say "soliamos vivir aqui pero nos mudamos" to have the SAME meaning as the above sentence? another example: Can we say "jugaba al futbol cuando era joven" instead of "Solia jugar al futbol cuando era joven"
Thanks in advance
3 Answers
Para mí "soler" tiene el significado de "tener la costumbre de." Es verdad que cuando se traduce al inglés, las dos expresiones tienen el significado de "used to." Pero hay una diferencia. Con algunos verbos no es lógico usar "soler," pero in la mayoría de casos está bien.
El exemplo presentado en la pregunta "solíamos vivir aquí pero nos mudamos." es uno de los casos donde prefiero usar el imperfecto. Pero el otro ejemplo, "solía jugar al fútbol." tiene sentido.
I would say to go with vivíamos for certain. Soler means something a bit different than used to. It means "to be in the habit of" or "tener la costumbre de" as Daniela2041 said. In english this would be followed with a present participle as when discussing someone who was in the habit of smoking after dinner. You're not really ever in the habit of living somewhere..
Yes, both ways mean the same thing and are correct.
But I think the use of this way depends on where you are, for example where I live(Perú) we don't use "soler" very much. In fact, the only time I used that word was to look for an accurate translation of "used to"
