cerrábamos

Cerrábamos is the first-person plural imperfect indicative form of the Spanish verb cerrar, meaning "we were closing" or "we used to close." It describes past actions that were ongoing or habitual, rather than completed in a single moment.

Morphology and pronunciación: cerrábamos is formed from the stem cerr- plus the imperfect ending -ábamos, with the accent on the a to indicate the correct stress: cerrábamos. This form belongs to the -ar class of regular verbs. Other moods and tenses related to this verb include cerrábamos in the imperfect indicative; the imperfect subjunctive forms are cerráramos or cerrásemos.

Usage: The imperfect form is used to indicate habitual past actions or to set a background in the past. It often appears with adverbs such as siempre, normalmente or a veces, and with phrases like mientras, cuando era niño, or en aquella época. Examples include: “Cerrábamos las ventanas cada noche” (We used to close the windows every night) and “Cerrábamos la tienda cuando llovía” (We were closing the shop when it was raining). Another example: “Cerrábamos las puertas para que no entrara el frío” (We closed the doors to keep the cold out). The meaning can shift toward a progressive sense in context, especially with adverbs or other past-tense clauses.

Related forms: Cerrábamos is part of the broader conjugation of cerrar. Other forms include cierro, cierras, cierra, cerramos, cierran (present), cerré, cerraste, cerró (preterite), and cerráramos or cerrásemos (imperfect subjunctive). The verb shares its etymology with cerrar’s Latin roots referring to bringing an opening to a close.

See also: Spanish verb conjugation; imperfect tense; cerrar (to close).