Using Pasar for more a lot more than just saying que pasa

Today we’re going to take a look at the verb pasar, and you can use it to say a lot more than ¿Qué pasa?.

I don’t think there are to many people who don’t know what ¿Qué pasa? means. It’s not the most exciting phrase you can use the verb pasar for, but it is a good place to start.

¿Qué pasa?
What’s happening?

This works as a greeting and as a way to find out what’s going on.

In fact, you can use pasar to talk about things that happen in general.

Mierda, eso siempre me pasa
Shit, That always happens to me

Por suerte, eso nunca me pasó
Luckily that never happened to me

You can also use pasar to talk about passing or stopping by.

Voy a pasar por tu casa 
I’m going to stop by your house

Pasa por mi oficina por favor
Stop by my office please

El bus pasa por mi casa
The bus passes by my house

Need a ride?

Mi vuelo llega a las 6.  ¿Puedes pasar por mi?
My flight arrives at 6.  Can you pick me up?

You can also use pasar to ask someone what’s wrong.

¿Qué te pasa?
What’s wrong?

And if  you use the right tone of voice it can also mean:

¿Qué te pasa?
What’s wrong with you?

The verb pasar can even come in handy when you’re on the phone.

Pásame a tu hermana
Pass me over to your sister

And you can pass more than telephones.

Don’t judge me.  And pass the salt.

By the way, pásame should have an accent.

You’ll need the verb pasar, or pasarlo bien,  if you want to talk about having a good time.

¿Lo pásate bien?
Did you have a good time?

Que te lo pases bien
Have a good time

Want to invite your guests in?

Pase
Come in

I quite often use pasar to find out if a bar or restaurant is showing an event.

¿Va a pasar la pelea?
Are you going to show the fight?

This is a common way to ask someone to send you a link to a web page.

Pásame el link
pass (give) me the link

When someone goes just a tad to far with their words or actions, you can say:

Con este chiste te pasaste
You went to far with that joke

Or simply,

Te pasaste
You went too far

Well, that’s it for now.  This should be more than enough to get you off to a good start with the verb pasar.

Here are some related posts I’ve written involving the verb pasar on my sister blog.

Pasa vs Pasar Por vs Pasarlo bien

¿Me puede pasar corriente?

¿Puedes pasar por mi?

Lastly, here are a couple more things you don’t want to miss out on.

You can have all of these handy phrases (and more) at your fingertips no matter where you go if you have an Android phone and the My Spanish Phrasebook app.

Don’t forget to follow my other blogs, My Spanish Notes and ¡Que Boquita! No Seas Pelangoche.

And of course, you can join me and lots of other Spanish learners on Facebook in my Estudiantes de Español group.

That’s it for today, ¡espero que les sirva!

Comments 3

  1. Rodney,
    A suggestion in regard to "pásame la sal". Where I live in Mexico people don't like to hand each other the salt for superstitious reasons. They prefer to pick it up and set it down close to the person who asked for it. For this reason they tend to say "acércame" instead of "pásame". Thank you for all of your fine lessons. I enjoy them very much and you continually amaze me with your progress in Spanish. I am always learning something new from you, especially from your adventurous travels. Cuídense mucho, amigo.

  2. I was interested in the mexican use of pasar in terms of a medical appointment, ejemplo: ?puedo pasar con cualquier doctor? Debe pasar con un especialista.

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