📘 GRAMMAR:

In English, we use the adverb “usually” to talk about frequent situations. In Spanish, you can do this in two ways. The first one is exactly like in English:

Usualmente juego al tenis. I usually play tennis.

But there is also a verb to say this, and we use it a lot. Take a look:

Presente, verbo soler

yo suelo
tú sueles
él, ella, usted suele
nosotros, nosotras solemos
vosotros, vosotras soléis
ellos, ellas, ustedes suelen

So, you can say:
Usualmente juego al tenis — or — Suelo jugar al tenis.
Usualmente como pescado — or — Suelo comer pescado.

Of course, instead of “usually” you can use “habitually” or “normally”:
Usualmente juego al baloncesto. Habitualmente juego al baloncesto. Normalmente juego al baloncesto.

Remember that this is an irregular verb changing O for UE. If you don’t remember the pattern of these verbs, go to episode 15. 😉

Although we didn’t cover the past tense yet, I will teach how to say “I used to do something”.

Pretérito imperfecto, verbo soler
yo solía
tú solías
él, ella, usted solía
nosotros, nosotras solíamos
vosotros, vosotras solíais
ellos, ellas, ustedes solían

So, you can say:
Solía jugar al tenis. I used to play tennis.

This is what Daniel said:
Yo suelo pensar que quiero cambiar el mundo. I usually think I want to change the world.

Remember that GCSE teachers are desperate about tenses, so show them one of these forms to have better marks, simply because you are using the past tense. Passing this exam is not only about knowing Spanish, but mainly, to know what they are expecting from you.

💡 TIP:

You probably know the days of the week: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo. Do not write them with capitals!

Now I will show you an incredibly common mistake, so pay attention. When I want to say that something happens on a particular day, I say, for instance:

El lunes juego al fútbol. On Monday I play football.
There is a strong tendency of many students to say En lunes, which is totally wrong.

El martes estudio francés. On Tuesday I study French.
El sábado vamos al cine. On Saturday we go to the cinema.

If you do something on a regular basis, simply put the article in the plural:
Los miércoles toco la guitarra. Every Wednesday I play the guitar.
Los domingos miro una película con mi papá. Every Sunday I watch a film with my dad.

Remember this:
On + day of the week is always el and absolutely never en.
On + days of the week is always los and absolutely never en.

This is what Constance said:
Los lunes solemos hablar del futuro. On Mondays, we usually talk about the future.