Present
| cierro | |
| cierras | |
| cerrás | |
| cierra | |
| cerramos | |
| cerráis | |
| cierran |
- e → ie when the stem is stressed: cierro, cierras, cierra, cierran
Spanish -ar verb
Cerrar conjugation and past participle
cerrar: to close
Cerrar changes e → ie in the stressed present (cierro, cierras) and in the forms built from it, but its past participle is regular: cerrado.
At a glance
Where cerrar breaks the pattern
Cerrar is irregular in the present.
e → ie when the stem is stressed
cierro, cierras, cierra, cierran · Present
The present subjunctive, affirmative imperative and negative imperative are built from those forms, so they have nothing new to learn.
Quick facts
- cerrado · regular
- cerrando · regular
- Only three affirmative commands have their own forms: tú cierra, vos cerrá and vosotros cerrad. Every other command, and every negative one, is the present subjunctive: cierre, cerremos, cierren; no cierres.
Focused practice
Practise cerrar now
Type the forms from memory, irregular ones first.
Conjugation tables for cerrar
Marked letters break the regular -ar pattern. Vosotros: Spain. Vos: voseo regions such as Argentina.
Indicative
Preterite
| cerré | |
| cerraste | |
| cerraste | |
| cerró | |
| cerramos | |
| cerrasteis | |
| cerraron |
Imperfect
| cerraba | |
| cerrabas | |
| cerrabas | |
| cerraba | |
| cerrábamos | |
| cerrabais | |
| cerraban |
Future
| cerraré | |
| cerrarás | |
| cerrarás | |
| cerrará | |
| cerraremos | |
| cerraréis | |
| cerrarán |
Present Perfect
| he cerrado | |
| has cerrado | |
| has cerrado | |
| ha cerrado | |
| hemos cerrado | |
| habéis cerrado | |
| han cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Past Perfect
| había cerrado | |
| habías cerrado | |
| habías cerrado | |
| había cerrado | |
| habíamos cerrado | |
| habíais cerrado | |
| habían cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Future Perfect
| habré cerrado | |
| habrás cerrado | |
| habrás cerrado | |
| habrá cerrado | |
| habremos cerrado | |
| habréis cerrado | |
| habrán cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Conditional
Conditional
| cerraría | |
| cerrarías | |
| cerrarías | |
| cerraría | |
| cerraríamos | |
| cerraríais | |
| cerrarían |
Conditional Perfect
| habría cerrado | |
| habrías cerrado | |
| habrías cerrado | |
| habría cerrado | |
| habríamos cerrado | |
| habríais cerrado | |
| habrían cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Subjunctive
Present Subjunctive
| cierre | |
| cierres | |
| cierres | |
| cierre | |
| cerremos | |
| cerréis | |
| cierren |
- Built on the present yo form cierro; cerremos and cerréis keep the regular stem
Imperfect Subjunctive (-ra)
| cerrara | |
| cerraras | |
| cerraras | |
| cerrara | |
| cerráramos | |
| cerrarais | |
| cerraran |
Imperfect Subjunctive (-se)
| cerrase | |
| cerrases | |
| cerrases | |
| cerrase | |
| cerrásemos | |
| cerraseis | |
| cerrasen |
Future Subjunctive
| cerrare | |
| cerrares | |
| cerrares | |
| cerrare | |
| cerráremos | |
| cerrareis | |
| cerraren |
Present Perfect Subjunctive
| haya cerrado | |
| hayas cerrado | |
| hayas cerrado | |
| haya cerrado | |
| hayamos cerrado | |
| hayáis cerrado | |
| hayan cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Past Perfect Subjunctive
| hubiera cerrado | |
| hubieras cerrado | |
| hubieras cerrado | |
| hubiera cerrado | |
| hubiéramos cerrado | |
| hubierais cerrado | |
| hubieran cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Future Perfect Subjunctive
| hubiere cerrado | |
| hubieres cerrado | |
| hubieres cerrado | |
| hubiere cerrado | |
| hubiéremos cerrado | |
| hubiereis cerrado | |
| hubieren cerrado |
- haber + cerrado
Imperative
Affirmative Imperative
| cierra | |
| cerrá | |
| cierre | |
| cerremos | |
| cerrad | |
| cierren |
Negative Imperative
| no cierres | |
| no cierres | |
| no cierre | |
| no cerremos | |
| no cerréis | |
| no cierren |
- Built on the present subjunctive
Usage
Cierro, cerrado and cerrar con llave
A common slip is cerro for “I close”. The stressed stem changes: cierro, cierras, cierran. In the preterite the stress moves to the ending, so the stem stays cerr-: cerré, cerró.
The past participle cerrado also works as an adjective and agrees with the noun. For a shop or door that is shut, use estar: la farmacia está cerrada, las tiendas están cerradas los domingos. With ser, cerrado describes a person: es muy cerrado (he’s very reserved, or closed-minded).
Cerrar con llave means to lock: ¿cerraste con llave? Cerrarse is used when something closes by itself: la puerta se cerró.
In commands, the stem change shows in tú, usted and ustedes: cierra la ventana, cierre la puerta, por favor, cierren al salir. The related noun keeps it too: el cierre (the closing, or a zip in much of Latin America), la hora de cierre (closing time).
Easy to confuse
- cerrarás (future tú) and cerraras (imperfect subjunctive (-ra) tú) differ only by the written accent.
- cerrará (future él) and cerrara (imperfect subjunctive (-ra) yo/él) differ only by the written accent.
- cerramos is both the present and preterite nosotros form; only context tells them apart.
Check yourself
Try before revealing
Yo ___. (cerrar · present)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
Try before revealing
Yo ___. (cerrar · preterite)
Say or form the answer before you check it.
Related verbs
Practise the pattern in context
- Present subjunctive practice
- Past participles as adjectives : using cerrado as an adjective