Me aseguro de cerrar la ventana cuando llueve.

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Breakdown of Me aseguro de cerrar la ventana cuando llueve.

• cerrar: to close
• me: me
• cuando: when

Questions & Answers about Me aseguro de cerrar la ventana cuando llueve.

Why is there me before aseguro in me aseguro?

Because asegurarse is a pronominal (reflexive) verb meaning “to make sure.” Every time you use asegurarse, you need the matching reflexive pronoun. Here the subject is “yo,” so you say me aseguro. Without me, aseguro simply means “I insure” or “I guarantee” something (like a car or a policy), not “I make sure.”

Why is there a de after aseguro?

The structure for “making sure to do something” is asegurarse de + infinitive. You can also say asegurarse de + noun (“make sure of something”). If you drop the de, it’s ungrammatical.

What’s the difference between asegurar and asegurarse?

• asegurar (without reflexive) means “to assure someone,” “to insure” (e.g. a house, a life).
• asegurarse (with reflexive) means “to make sure,” “to ensure (that you do something or that something is true).”
They look similar but have different uses.

Why is cerrar in the infinitive and not conjugated?

After asegurarse de, you express the action you want to guarantee with an infinitive: de cerrar means “to close.” You cannot follow aseguro de with a conjugated verb (e.g. de cierro is wrong).