In the new music video posted this week, the diction is very clear, but the meaning...? Well, Mexican pop band Molotov tends towards the surreal in this song about turning into a Martian (marciano). Once you listen carefully, and realize the lyrics are as goofy as the dance moves on your screen, you'll learn some very useful Spanish vocabulary.

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For starters, take a look at the third line of the song:

No es el cuerpo marrano que solía tener...

It's not the fat body I used to have...

Caption 5, Molotov - Marciano

 Play Caption

Solía is from the verb soler, which means, in the present infinitive, "to usually do" or "to be accustomed to." But in the past tense -as in the caption above- it has a simpler English translation: "used to."

Here's the trick: Soler in the present or past tense is always followed by another verb in the infinitive. Compare these two similar sentences:

En verano, suelo ir a la playa.
In summer, I usually go to the beach.
Or: In summer, I tend to go to the beach.

Cuando era niño, solía ir a la playa (tense = past)
When I was a boy, I used to go to the beach.
 

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And what about in the future or in the conditional tenses? Well, soler doesn't have a future or a conditional tense. That puts the word in a category of verbs that are not fully conjugated, known as "defective verbs." Other examples of defective verbs in Spanish include llover--"to rain"--and amanecer--"to dawn." (Click here for more.)