encerrar Imperfect Conjugation
encerrar — to lock up
Encerrar is regular in the imperfect: encerraba, encerrabas, encerraba, encerrábamos, encerrabais, encerraban.
encerrar Imperfect Forms
When to Use the Imperfect
Use the imperfect to describe a past habit of locking something up or to set the scene (e.g., 'the walls enclosed the garden').
Notes on encerrar in the Imperfect
This tense is completely regular. There is no stem change and it uses standard -aba endings.
Example Sentences
De niño, yo encerraba mis tesoros en una caja.
As a child, I used to lock my treasures in a box.
yo
Las murallas encerraban la antigua ciudad.
The walls enclosed the ancient city.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
Common Mistakes
Mistake: encerábamos
Correct: encerrábamos
Why: Don't forget the written accent on the 'á' in the nosotros form.
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: encierro
Encerrar is a stem-changing verb (e to ie) in the present tense, except for nosotros and vosotros.
Preterite
yo: encerré
Encerrar is completely regular in the preterite; it does NOT have a stem change here.
Future
yo: encerraré
The future of encerrar is regular: just add the endings (é, ás, á, emos, éis, án) to the infinitive.
Conditional
yo: encerraría
The conditional of encerrar is regular: encerraría, encerrarías, encerraría, encerraríamos, encerraríais, encerrarían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: encierre
The present subjunctive follows the e-to-ie stem change of the present indicative for all forms except nosotros and vosotros.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: encerrara
The imperfect subjunctive is regular based on the third-person plural preterite: encerrara, encerraras, encerrara...
Affirmative Imperative
yo: encierra
Use 'encierra' for tú and 'encierre' for usted to give direct orders to lock something up.
Negative Imperative
yo: no encierres
Negative commands use 'no' plus the present subjunctive forms: no encierres, no encierre.