Cerrar conjugation: main tenses of "to close" in Spanish
Cerrar means "to close". Stem-changing -ar verb e → ie. Present tense: cierro, cierras, cierra, cerramos, cerráis, cierran. Preterite: cerré, cerraste, cerró… The past participle is cerrado and the gerund is cerrando.
Infinitive
cerrar
Pronunciation
seh-RRAHR
IPA (Spain)
/θeˈraɾ/
IPA (Latin America)
/seˈraɾ/
Meaning
to close
Type
Stem-changing -ar verb e → ie
Gerund
cerrando
Past participle
cerrado
Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. Highlighted forms differ from the regular pattern. Tap any form to hear it.
Cerrar in the indicative
PresentePresent
what happens now or usually
yo
cierro (irregular)
tú
cierras (irregular)
él / ella / usted
cierra (irregular)
nosotros
cerramos
vosotros
cerráis
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cierran (irregular)
Pretérito indefinidoPreterite
a finished action in the past
yo
cerré
tú
cerraste
él / ella / usted
cerró
nosotros
cerramos
vosotros
cerrasteis
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cerraron
Pretérito imperfectoImperfect
an ongoing or repeated action in the past
yo
cerraba
tú
cerrabas
él / ella / usted
cerraba
nosotros
cerrábamos
vosotros
cerrabais
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cerraban
Futuro simpleFuture
what will happen
yo
cerraré
tú
cerrarás
él / ella / usted
cerrará
nosotros
cerraremos
vosotros
cerraréis
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cerrarán
Condicional simpleConditional
what would happen
yo
cerraría
tú
cerrarías
él / ella / usted
cerraría
nosotros
cerraríamos
vosotros
cerraríais
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cerrarían
Pretérito perfectoPresent perfect
haber + past participle: what has happened
yo
he cerrado
tú
has cerrado
él / ella / usted
ha cerrado
nosotros
hemos cerrado
vosotros
habéis cerrado
ellos / ellas / ustedes
han cerrado
Compound tenses of cerrar
The helper verb is conjugated while cerrar stays in one form: the participle cerrado, the gerund cerrando or the infinitive.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto Past perfect
había cerrado, habías cerrado, había cerrado, habíamos cerrado, habíais cerrado, habían cerrado
voy a cerrar, vas a cerrar, va a cerrar, vamos a cerrar, vais a cerrar, van a cerrar
Presente continuo (estar + gerundio) Present continuous
estoy cerrando, estás cerrando, está cerrando, estamos cerrando, estáis cerrando, están cerrando
Cerrar in the subjunctive
Presente de subjuntivoPresent subjunctive
after quiero que, espero que, cuando
yo
cierre (irregular)
tú
cierres (irregular)
él / ella / usted
cierre (irregular)
nosotros
cerremos
vosotros
cerréis
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cierren (irregular)
Imperfecto de subjuntivoImperfect subjunctive
after si and quería que
yo
cerrara
tú
cerraras
él / ella / usted
cerrara
nosotros
cerráramos
vosotros
cerrarais
ellos / ellas / ustedes
cerraran
The imperfect subjunctive has a second, equally correct set of forms in -se; swap -ra for -se: cerrara → cerrase.
Cerrar in the imperative
Imperativoaffirmative
telling someone to do it
tú
cierra
usted
cierre
nosotros
cerremos
vosotros
cerrad
ustedes
cierren
Imperativo negativonegative
telling someone not to: no + the subjunctive
tú
no cierres
usted
no cierre
nosotros
no cerremos
vosotros
no cerréis
ustedes
no cierren
What is irregular about cerrar
The e changes to ie only where the stress falls on the stem: cierro, cierras, cierra, cierran in the present, cierre, cierres, cierren in the present subjunctive, and the commands cierra, cierre, cierren. Nosotros and vosotros keep e: cerramos, cerráis, cerremos, cerréis. The preterite is regular (cerré, cerró, cerraron), and so are the imperfect, the future and the gerund cerrando.
Conjugated the same way: pensar, despertar, calentar, sentar, recomendar.
Common mistakes with cerrar
Yo cerro la puerta.→Yo cierro la puerta.
The stressed e becomes ie. Cerro does exist in Spanish, but it is a noun meaning "hill".
La tienda es cerrada.→La tienda está cerrada.
"Closed" as the state something is in takes estar: está cerrado, están cerradas. The participle agrees with the noun.
¡No cierras la puerta!→¡No cierres la puerta!
A negative command uses the subjunctive, so the ending switches from -as to -es. The affirmative tú command is cierra.
When to use cerrar
Cerrar con llave is "to lock". Taps and gas are also "closed" in Spanish: cerrar el grifo is "to turn off the tap". The opposite is abrir.
Cerrar in sentences
La tienda cierra a las ocho. The shop closes at eight.
¿Cerraste la puerta con llave? Did you lock the door?
Antes cerraban los domingos. They used to close on Sundays.
Mañana el museo cerrará antes. Tomorrow the museum will close earlier.
No cierres la ventana, hace calor. Don't close the window, it's hot.
How to remember cerrar
cerrar[seh-RRAHR] sounds like the English “sierra”. Picture this:
Close the shutters — the sierra wind is coming down the mountain with sand in its teeth.
A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method: the sound pulls the meaning along. How it works.
Practice the cerrar conjugation
Practice cerrar
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FAQ
Is cerrar a regular or irregular verb?
Stem-changing -ar verb e → ie. In the tables on this page, 11 forms differ from the regular pattern; they are highlighted.
Tables: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and UniMorph, CC BY-SA 3.0, cross-checked on September 30, 2026. Notes on mistakes and the examples were written with the help of our model (AI); every form in the examples is matched against the chart, and the text was proofread separately. How we make it.