cerrabais

Cerrabais is the second-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb cerrar, used with the pronoun vosotros. It denotes actions in the past that were habitual or ongoing, equivalent to “you all were closing” or “you all used to close” in English. In the imperfect tense for regular -ar verbs, the ending for vosotros is -abais, so cerrar yields cerrabais.

Usage and forms: The imperfect of cerrar with all subject pronouns is: yo cerraba, tú cerrabas, él/ella/usted cerraba, nosotros cerrábamos, vosotros cerrabais, ellos/ellas/ustedes cerraban. Cerrabais is therefore the form appropriate when the vosostros form is used in speech or writing.

Regional note: Cerrabais is standard in Spain and in communities that use the vosotros form. In most of Latin America, where ustedes replaces vosotros, the corresponding imperfect form would be cerraban (for ustedes/ellos) rather than cerrabais, so contextual cues determine its use.

Examples:

- Antes, vosotros cerrabais la tienda a las ocho para cerrar bien todo. (In the past, you all used to close the shop at eight.)

- Cuando éramos niños, vosotros cerrabais la casa con llave cada tarde. (When we were kids, you all used to lock the house every afternoon.)

See also: cerrar, imperfecto de indicativo, vosotros (pronombre), conjugación verbal en español, métodos de conjugación de -ar verbs.