cerraba

Cerraba is the imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb cerrar, which means to close or shut. In grammar, cerraba can refer to I was closing, he/she was closing, or you (formal) were closing, depending on the subject of the sentence. The imperfect is used to describe ongoing actions in the past, habitual actions, or descriptions.

Conjugation and morphology: For the verb cerrar, cerraba follows the regular -ar imperfect endings. The six forms are: yo cerraba, tú cerrabas, él/ella/usted cerraba, nosotros cerrábamos, vosotros cerrabais, ellos/ellas/ustedes cerraban. The form cerraba contains no stem change in the imperfect, unlike the present tense where cerrar often changes its stem (e.g., cierro, cierras).

Usage notes: Cerraba is employed to express past actions without a defined end, such as routines or background actions. Examples: Yo cerraba la puerta cada noche. La tienda cerraba a las ocho. It is distinct from the preterite form cerró, which marks a completed past action with a definite end point. The imperfect can also appear in temporal or conditional clauses, or in indirect speech to describe past states.

Relation to related forms: The verb cerrar also yields related nouns and adjectives in Spanish, such as cierre (closure) and cerrado (closed). Cerraba, as an imperfect form, is part of a broader system of past-tense narration in Spanish that contrasts with the preterite and other past tenses.