Pasar: Meanings and uses, with every Pasar conjugation in Spanish

Pasar in Spanish: meanings, uses, and every pasar conjugation

Get our free email course, Shortcut to Conversational.

Have conversations faster, understand people when they speak fast, and other tested tips to learn faster.

More info

Pasar is one of those verbs in Spanish that, in terms of popularity and use, are similar to hacer, llevar or ser. That is, you will surely come across it in any type of conversation or in diverse contexts. Then, learning how to conjugate pasar in Spanish is a must if you want to speak Spanish.

We will start off with the different meanings of pasar in Spanish. We’ll include many examples so as to show you how to use pasar with different meanings and in distinct contexts.

Then we’ll move onto the pasar conjugation charts. We will divide the pasar conjugation into the three Spanish moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. From there, the indicative and subjunctive will be divided into simple tenses and compound tenses.

But without further ado, let’s dive into pasar in Spanish, now!

Pasar Meanings

Pasar is one of the verbs with more meanings in Spanish. Today we’ll cover the most common uses ordinary Spanish-speaking people use on a daily basis.

Most of the time pasar in English may mean to pass, to go through or to happen. These are just a few of the meanings of pasar in Spanish. Let’s study in detail each meaning.

Pasar meaning to cross

  • The group of tourists crossed the border with no difficulties. – El grupo de turistas pasó la frontera sin problemas.

Pasar meaning to enter a room / to come in

  • When you enter the living room you’ll see how beautiful it is. – Cuando pasen a la sala de estar verán lo hermosa que es.

Pasar meaning to hand something to somebody

  • Can you pass me the salt, please? – ¿Me pasas la sal, por favor?

Pasar meaning to go through

  • Call me when you arrive, don’t make me go through such uncertainty again. – Llámame cuando llegues, no me hagas pasar por esa incertidumbre otra vez.
  • The refrigerator doesn’t go through the kitchen door. – El refrigerador no pasa por la puerta de la cocina.

Pasar meaning to happen

  • What happened? You arrived so early. – ¿Qué pasó que llegaste tan temprano?

Pasar meaning to go by

  • How many years have gone by since I last saw you? – ¿Cuántos años han pasado desde la última vez que te vi?

Pasar meaning to pass / to go past

  • First you have to pass the gas station and then turn right. – Primero tienes que pasar la estación de servicio y luego doblar a la derecha.

Pasar meaning to spend time

  • Marcelo spends all day long studying literature. – Marcelo pasa todo el día estudiando literatura.

Pasar meaning to succeed in an exam

  • Miguel is very intelligent, he passed all the tests without studying. – Miguel es muy inteligente, pasó todos los exámenes sin estudiar.

Pasar meaning to screen a movie or to play music

  • Tarantino’s movie is on TV. – Están pasando la pelicula de Tarantino en la tele.
  • They play cool music at this disco. – En esta disco pasan una música genial.

Now that you know all there is to know about pasar meaning, let’s continue with pasar conjugation.

Pasar Conjugation

Pasar is a regular verb. This means that it follows the conjugation pattern of the regular verbs ending in -ar. Then, this is a good opportunity to practice the conjugation of the first conjugation of regular verbs in Spanish. Now, let’s start with pasar conjugation.

We’ll present you with the impersonal forms of pasar and then we’ll focus on all three moods divided by tenses. For complete lessons on each topic, click on our dedicated posts!

Pasar impersonal forms

Pasar Conjugation Indicative Mood

Pasar conjugation: simple tenses

Subject Present Imperfect
Yo paso pasaba
Tú pasas pasabas
Él, Ella, Usted pasa pasaban
Nosotros, Nosotras pasamos pasábamos
Vosotros, Vosotras pasáis pasabais
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes pasan pasaban
  • They always screen the same horror series on that channel. – Siempre pasan la misma serie de terror en ese canal.
  • In summer, we spent entire nights playing guitar with friends. – En verano, pasábamos noches enteras tocando la guitarra con amigos.
Subject Preterite Future
Yo pasé pasaré
Tú pasaste pasarás
Él, Ella, Usted pasó pasarán
Nosotros, Nosotras pasamos pasaremos
Vosotros, Vosotras pasasteis pasaréis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes pasaron pasarán
  • Micaela didn’t pass the driving test. – Micaela no pasó el examen de conducir.
  • What will happen if you’re not here? – ¿Qué pasará si tú no estás aquí?
Subject Conditional
Yo pasaría
Tú pasarías
Él, Ella, Usted pasaría
Nosotros, Nosotras pasaríamos
Vosotros, Vosotras pasaríais
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes pasarían
  • What would happen if we didn’t arrive on time? – ¿Qué pasaría si no llegáramos a tiempo?
  • If Juana didn’t work, she would spend more time with her kids. – Si no trabajara, Juana pasaría más tiempo con sus hijos.

Pasar conjugation: compound tenses

Subject Present Perfect Past Perfect
Yo he pasado había pasado
Tú has pasado habías pasado
Él, Ella, Usted ha pasado habían pasado
Nosotros, Nosotras hemos pasado habíamos pasado
Vosotros, Vosotras habéis pasado habíais pasado
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes han pasado habían pasado
  • We’ve already gone through this before. – Ya hemos pasado por esto antes.
  • The bed had never passed through that door. – La cama nunca antes había pasado por esa puerta.
Subject Future Perfect Conditional Perfect
Yo habré pasado habría pasado
Tú habrás pasado habrías pasado
Él, Ella, Usted habrá pasado habrían pasado
Nosotros, Nosotras habremos pasado habríamos pasado
Vosotros, Vosotras habráis pasado habríais pasado
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes habremos pasado habrían pasado
  • Many years would have passed by before you realized what really happened. – Habrán pasado muchos años antes de que te des cuenta de lo que pasó realmente.
  • If you had studied more, you would have passed that test. – Si hubieras estudiado más, habrías pasado ese examen.

Pasar Conjugation Subjunctive Mood

Pasar conjugation: simple tenses

Note that the imperfect subjunctive has two different forms, we’ve included both conjugations for you to choose the one that you like!

Subject Present Subjunctive Imperfect Subjunctive
Yo pase pasara / pasase
Tú pases pasaras / pasases
Él, Ella, Usted pase pasara / pasase
Nosotros, Nosotras pasemos pasáramos / pasásemos
Vosotros, Vosotras paséis pasarais / pasaseis
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes pasen pasaran / pasasen
  • I kindly ask you to pass me that book on the shelf. – Te pido que por favor me pases el libro de ese estante.
  • If time didn’t pass so fast, we would have more fun. – Si el tiempo no pasara tan rápido nos divertiríamos más.

Pasar conjugation: compound tenses

As in the case of the imperfect subjunctive, the past perfect subjunctive has two variations, included here for you to pick from.

Subject Present Perfect Subjunctive Past Perfect Subjunctive
Yo haya pasado hubiera pasado / hubiese pasado
Tú hayas pasado hubieras pasado / hubieses pasado
Él, Ella, Usted haya pasado hubiera pasado / pasado
Nosotros, Nosotras hayamos pasado hubiéramos pasado / hubiésemos pasado
Vosotros, Vosotras hayáis pasado hubierais pasado / hubieseis pasado
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes hayan pasado hubieran pasado / hubiesen pasado
  • Just because Pedro passed the exam doesn’t mean he studied. – Que Pedro haya pasado el examen no significa que haya estudiado.
  • If they had passed me the ball on time, we would have won the game. – Si me hubieran pasado la pelota a tiempo, habríamos ganado el partido.

Pasar conjugation subjunctive: archaic tenses

Although these last subjunctive tenses are no longer used in Spanish and are mostly found in ancient texts, we still include them for the sake of completeness.

Subject Future Imperfect Subjunctive Future Perfect Subjunctive
Yo pasare hubiere pasado
Tú pasares hubieres pasado
Él, Ella, Usted pasare hubiere pasado
Nosotros, Nosotras pasáremos hubiéremos pasado
Vosotros, Vosotras pasareis hubiereis pasado
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes pasaren hubieren pasado

Pasar Conjugation Imperative Mood

Subject Imperative
Tú pasa / no pases
Usted pase
Nosotros, Nosotras pasemos
Vosotros, Vosotras pasad / no paséis
Ustedes pasen

Note that the conjugation of pasar in the negative form changes for tú and vosotros.

  • Don’t enter the room. They’re still cleaning it. – No pasen al salón. Todavía están limpiando.
  • Pass the salad dish, please. – Pasa el plato de ensalada, por favor.

Conclusion

In today’s post, we’ve covered all there is to know about pasar in Spanish. We’ve provided a wide range of uses and meanings pasar may have. We’ve included many examples for you to see the verb pasar in action. You surely have noticed that pasar is quite a versatile verb that can be translated as to cross, to enter, to hand in, to spend time and to happen, among other meanings we’ve included in our first section of this post.

Then we continued with pasar conjugation. We showed you how to conjugate pasar in Spanish. We presented you with all pasar conjugation moods and tenses. Additionally, we included a bunch of useful examples for you to have the best grasp of it.

Being pasar a regular -ar ending verb, we’re sure this post was not quite an issue for you. And we are positive that now you’ll be all set to work and practice with the following exercises! ¡Pasa y ve lo que tenemos para ti hoy! – Come in and see what we have for you today!

Exercises

Complete the sentences with the correct conjugation of the verb pasar.

1. Romeo me _____ la pelota pero no pude atraparla. (Preterite)

2. Julieta siempre _____ por esa esquina para ver a su mejor amigo. (Imperfect)

3. Espero que _____ mi película favorita en canal 8. (Present Subjunctive)

4. Nosotros _____ más tiempo con mi familia si hubiéramos llegado más temprano. (Conditional Perfect)

5. Muchos años _____ antes de que pueda volver a verla. (Future Indicative)

6. Sé que lo que _____ es muy bueno para todos. (Present Perfect)

7. Nosotros siempre _____ las mejores vacaciones con ustedes. (Present Indicative)

8. Vosotros _____ los libros para que todos podamos leerlos. (Imperative)

9. Si mañana el DJ _____ mi canción en la fiesta sería muy feliz. (Imperfect Subjunctive)

10. Para las 10 p.m. ya _____ por cinco puentes. (Future Perfect Indicative)

Answers

1. Romeo me pasó la pelota pero no pude atraparla. – Romeo passed me the ball but I couldn’t catch it.

2. Julieta siempre pasaba por esa esquina para ver a su mejor amigo. Julieta used to pass by that corner to see her best friend.

3. Espero que pasen mi película favorita en canal 8. – I hope they screen my favourite movie on channel 8.

4. Nosotros habríamos pasado más tiempo con mi familia si hubiéramos llegado más temprano. – We would have spent more time with my family if we had arrived earlier.

5. Muchos años pasarán antes de que pueda volver a verla. – Many years will go by before I could see her again.

6. Sé que lo que ha pasado es muy bueno para todos. – I know that what has happened is very good for everyone.

7. Nosotros siempre pasamos las mejores vacaciones con ustedes. – We always spend the best vacations with you.

8. Vosotros pasad los libros para que todos podamos leerlos. – You pass the books so that we all can read them.

9. Si mañana el DJ pasara mi canción en la fiesta sería muy feliz. – If tomorrow the DJ would play my favourite song at the party I would be very happy.

10. Para las 10 p.m. ya habré pasado por cinco puentes. – By 10 p.m. I will have crossed five bridges.

0

Get our FREE 7-day email course, Shortcut to Conversational

The exact strategies you need to become conversational in Spanish this year. Join the course now, before we come to our senses and charge for it!

This blog is presented by BaseLang: Unlimited Spanish Tutoring for $179 a Month. Learn more here.