Abrir is one of the most important irregular verbs in Spanish — it appears in virtually every GCSE and A-Level task.
Practice abrir free →Abrir means 'to open', and although it conjugates as a regular -ir verb in the present and preterite, it has one irregular feature you must know: its past participle is abierto ('opened'), not the form you might expect. So 'I have opened' is he abierto. Abro la ventana (I open the window), la tienda abre a las nueve (the shop opens at nine). Its natural opposite is cerrar ('to close'). Because opening and closing come up in directions, shops and daily routine, abrir is a genuinely everyday verb — and remembering abierto in the perfect tense is an easy way to avoid a common mistake.
Quick facts
Abrir (to open) is a high-frequency irregular -ir verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
Abro la puerta (I open the door).
La tienda abre a las nueve (the shop opens at nine).
Irregular participle: he abierto (I have opened).
Cerrar (to close) is the natural opposite.
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
Abrir is a high-frequency irregular verb. Make sure you know the endings for each tense — especially the preterite and subjunctive, which is where marks are most often lost.
Irregular past participle — it does not end in -ido.
Irregular past participle — same as in the present perfect.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice abrir now →Three questions. Press Enter to check each answer.
yo: abro, tú: abres, él: abre, nosotros: abrimos, vosotros: abrís, ellos: abren
Abrir is irregular.
Use abrir in multiple tenses to show range — present, preterite and future at minimum. This is a key criterion for higher GCSE marks.
Verbs that are easy to confuse with abrir or that behave like it.
This reference is written for UK GCSE and A-Level Spanish learners and their teachers. It is designed for exam revision: every form is checked against standard conjugation rules, and the examples reflect the registers and topics that come up in the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas specifications. Abrir is a high-frequency verb and appears often in exam papers. For active recall, use the free practice tool rather than only reading the tables.