Verb phrases: acabar de, soler, dejar de

Verb + infinitive

You already know ir a + infinitive: Voy a estudiar. Spanish has more pairs like it. The first verb changes for the person and the tense; the infinitive after it never changes:

• Empiezo a trabajar a las ocho. (I start working at eight.)
• Mis hijos empiezan a hablar inglés. (My children are starting to speak English.)
• Empecé a estudiar español el año pasado. (I started studying Spanish last year.)

Most of these verbs need a small word before the infinitive, a or de. Learn each verb together with its word.

Acabar de: have just

Acabar de + infinitive in the present says that something happened a moment ago. English uses the present perfect here (“have just”), Spanish the present:

• Acabo de llegar. (I have just arrived.)
• Mis padres acaban de salir. (My parents have just gone out.)
• ¿Acabas de comer? (Have you just eaten?)

Without de, acabar simply means “to finish”: Acabé el libro ayer. (I finished the book yesterday.)

Volver a: again

Volver a + infinitive means doing something again. It says the same as otra vez or de nuevo:

• Volví a leer el libro. = Leí el libro otra vez. (I read the book again.)
• El lunes vuelvo a trabajar. (On Monday I go back to work.)
• No volví a ver a Carlos. (I never saw Carlos again.)

Do not confuse it with volver a + a place, “to go back to”: Vuelvo a casa. (I am going back home.)

Empezar a and dejar de: start and stop

Empezar a + infinitive means “to start doing”; dejar de + infinitive means “to stop doing”:

• Empecé a correr hace un año. (I started running a year ago.)
• Ha empezado a llover. (It has started to rain.)
• Mi abuelo dejó de fumar. (My grandfather stopped smoking.)
• ¡Deja de hablar! (Stop talking!)

Without an infinitive, dejar means “to leave” something: Dejé las llaves en casa. (I left the keys at home.)

Soler: usually

Soler + infinitive says what someone usually does. It works like normalmente:

• Suelo desayunar en casa. = Normalmente desayuno en casa. (I usually have breakfast at home.)
• ¿A qué hora sueles cenar? (What time do you usually have dinner?)

Soler changes its stem (o → ue): suelo, sueles, suele, solemos, suelen. It is used in the present and in the imperfect, where it means “used to”:

• De niño, solía jugar en la calle. (As a child, I used to play in the street.)

Seguir + gerund: still

Seguir + gerund says that something still goes on or that someone keeps doing it. The gerund is the -ando / -iendo form you know from estoy hablando. Seguir changes its stem (e → i): sigo, sigues, sigue, seguimos, siguen.

• Sigo viviendo con mis padres. = Todavía vivo con mis padres. (I still live with my parents.)
• ¿Sigues trabajando en el banco? (Are you still working at the bank?)
• Sigue lloviendo. (It is still raining.)

After seguir comes the gerund, never the infinitive: sigo estudiando, not sigo estudiar.