Cerrar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Cerrar In Spanish

Cerrar is a common -AR verb that you’ll use in many different everyday situations. Since it has some stem-changes you must keep in mind, in this guide, we’ll explore how to conjugate cerrar in Spanish. Here is a quick overview of what you’ll learn:

• Cerrar Overview 
• Indicative Tenses of Cerrar Conjugations
  • Present tense
  • Preterite tense
  • Imperfect tense
  • Near Future tense
  • Future tense
  • Conditional tense
  • Present Perfect tense
  • Past Perfect tense
  • Future Perfect tense
  • Conditional Perfect tense
  • Progressive tenses
• Subjunctive Tenses of Cerrar Conjugations 
  • Present Subjunctive tense
  • Present Perfect Subjunctive tense
  • Imperfect Subjunctive tense
  • Past Perfect Subjunctive tense
• Imperative (Commands) of Cerrar Conjugations
  • Affirmative Commands
  • Negative Commands
• Uses & Examples
• Download Cerrar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets
• Cerrar Conjugation Practice Quiz

Take Note: There are many tenses in Spanish. However, we don’t use them all. Many are simply old and outdated. As a result, in this guide, you’ll only learn the tenses you need to know to become fluent in Spanish. 

Overview of Cerrar

Indicative Conjugations of Cerrar

Present tense

The present tense conjugations of cerrar have an E to IE stem-change for all subjects except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’. In this tense, cerrar can be used to talk about closing doors/ports, objects, or closing hours. Hoy cerramos a las 7.

Preterite tense

Cerrar’s preterite conjugations are all regular. The preterite tense of ‘cerrar’ communicates that something was closed at a specific moment in the past. For example: Jill cerró la ventana ayer en la noche.

Imperfect tense

 In Spanish, the imperfect forms of cerrar refer to things people used to close repeatedly or at an unspecified moment in the past. La escuela cerraba a las 8. In this tense, ‘cerrar’ can be translated as ‘used to close’ or ‘closed’.

Near future

 Cerrar in the near future refers to things you plan to close at some point in the immediate future. For instance: voy a cerrar la puerta en unos minutos.  The near future is formed with ir (present) + a + cerrar and can be translated as “going to close”.

Future simple tense

The future forms of cerrar communicate that someone will close something at some point in the future. Cerraremos esta cuenta en unos meses.

Conditional tense

 In the conditional tense, cerrar allows you to talk about things people would close if certain circumstances were met. For example: Bill dijo que si no había gente, hoy cerraría temprano.

Present perfect tense

We use the present perfect of ‘cerrar’ to express that someone has or hasn’t closed something. Todavía no han cerrado la tienda. With this verb, the formula for the present perfect in Spanish is: ‘haber’ in the present tense + cerrado.

Past perfect

The past perfect conjugations of cerrar imply that someone closed something before some other reference point in the past. Cuando llegué, el restaurante ya había cerrado. To conjugate the past perfect, we use the formula haber (imperfect form) + cerrado (cerrar’s past participle form).

Future perfect

The future perfect conjugations of cerrar expresses that a place will close by or before a certain time in the future. For instance: cuando lleguemos, ya habrán cerrado. The structure to form this tense is haber to the future tense and cerrado (the past participle of ‘cerrar’).

Conditional perfect

In the conditional perfect, cerrar allows you to talk about places that would have closed if a past condition had been fulfilled. For example: habríamos cerrado antes, pero no pudimos.

Progressive tenses

The progressive tenses of ‘cerrar’ communicate that someone is closing something at the moment of speaking. For instance: ¿por qué están cerrando las ventanas? The progressive tenses are formed with the structure: estar (conjugated) + gerund form of cerrar (cerrando).

Cerrar Subjunctive Conjugations

In Spanish, the subjunctive is used to talk about wishes, hypothetical situations or express uncertainty. The conjugation charts below show the subjunctive forms of cerrar.

Present subjunctive

Cerrar subjunctive conjugations express wishes, suggestions, expectations or uncertainties about closing a place. For instance: ojalá que cierren más tarde. The subjunctive forms of ‘cerrar’ have a stem change from E to IE for all subjects except ‘nosotros’ and ‘vosotros’.

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber in the present subjunctive + cerrado is the structure you should use to form the present perfect subjunctive of ‘cerrar’. With this tense, ‘cerrar’ is used to communicate uncertainty about closing something. ¿Crees que Juan haya cerrado las ventanas?

Imperfect subjunctive

Cerrar in the imperfect subjunctive is used to talk about things we wanted to close or to express past uncertainty about closing a place. For example: no sabía que cerraran tan temprano. 

The imperfect subjunctive has two conjugation models depending on which type of Spanish you’re using:

Latin American Spanish version

Note: The table above doesn’t include the conjugation for vosotros because this pronoun is not used in Latin American Spanish.

Castilian Spanish version

Past perfect subjunctive

The past perfect subjunctive of cerrar expresses that someone would have closed a place if a past circumstance was met. You can also use this tense to communicate regret about not closing something. Si hubieras cerrado las ventanas, no habría entrado agua.

Cerrar Imperative Conjugations

The Spanish imperative mood is used to instruct people on what to do (affirmative imperative) as well as what not to do (negative imperative).

Affirmative commands

The affirmative commands of cerrar allow you to order people to close something. With the exception of ‘vosotros’, the imperative forms of ‘cerrar’ have an E to IE stem change.

Negative commands

We use the negative imperative to tell people to not close a thing or place. For example: no cierres la puerta. The negative commands of ‘cerrar’ are stem-changing conjugations with the exception of ‘vosotros’.

Meanings of Cerrar & Examples

Cerrar is the direct translation of ‘to close’. So, now that you’ve learned cerrar conjugation charts, below are some examples of how to use this verb in Spanish. 

[Cerrar conjugated] + [complement]

¿Cerraste la llave?
Did you close the tap?

Chicos, no cerréis las ventanas.
Guys, don’t close the windows.

Ojalá Jesús cierre el trato.
Hopefully, Jesus closes the deal.

Si hubieras cerrado tu mochila, no habrías perdido tu cartera.
If you had closed your bag, you wouldn’t have lost your wallet.

Download Cerrar Conjugation Tables & Uses Cheat sheets

I’ve created a PDF that you can download which contains all of the conjugation tables, characteristics, and uses of ‘cerrar’ so you can study it anytime you choose!

Download Conjugations PDF

Practice Quiz: Cerrar Conjugation

Now that you’ve learned how to conjugate cerrar in Spanish, you can practice your skills by taking the cerrar conjugation practice quiz.