Passare ("to pass, to stop by, to spend [time]") and tornare ("to return, to come back") are two of the most flexible verbs in everyday Italian. They handle a surprising range of meanings that English splits across half a dozen verbs — pass through, drop by, hand over, spend an hour, take an exam, come back, go again — and the auxiliary choice for passare (essere or avere depending on usage) is one of the cleanest illustrations of how Italian routes the same verb through different syntactic frames. This page covers the conjugations, the auxiliary split, the da / per / di preposition system, and the idioms that come up daily.
The conjugations
Both verbs are regular -are. Passo, passi, passa, passiamo, passate, pàssano and torno, torni, torna, torniamo, tornate, tòrnano. Stress on the loro form falls on the root in both: pàssano, tòrnano.
| Person | passare | tornare |
|---|---|---|
| io | passo | torno |
| tu | passi | torni |
| lui / lei | passa | torna |
| noi | passiamo | torniamo |
| voi | passate | tornate |
| loro | pàssano | tòrnano |
Passo da te stasera, va bene verso le otto?
I'll stop by your place tonight — does around eight work?
Torno tra un'ora, devo solo fare una commissione.
I'll be back in an hour, I just need to run an errand.
Passare: the auxiliary split
Passare is the textbook example of a verb whose auxiliary depends on its syntactic frame. When passare is intransitive and describes movement through space, it takes essere. When passare is transitive — taking a direct object like un esame, tre ore, un libro — it takes avere. Same verb, different frames, different auxiliaries.
| Frame | Auxiliary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Intransitive motion | essere | Sono passato di qui ieri |
| Stop by, drop in | essere | È passata da Marco stamattina |
| Time elapses | essere | Sono passati tre anni |
| Pass an exam | avere | Ho passato l'esame |
| Spend (time) | avere | Ho passato tre ore al telefono |
| Hand over (something) | avere | Mi ha passato il sale |
Sono passato di qui ieri sera, ma il negozio era già chiuso.
I came by here yesterday evening, but the shop was already closed.
Ho passato l'esame di matematica al primo tentativo.
I passed the math exam on the first try.
Ho passato tre ore in coda alla posta.
I spent three hours in line at the post office.
Mi passi il sale, per favore?
Could you pass me the salt, please?
Sono passati cinque anni dal nostro ultimo incontro.
Five years have gone by since our last meeting.
Passare da, passare per, passare di
Three prepositions divide the work, and the choice signals what kind of passing you mean.
- passare da + place/person — to stop by, drop in (often at someone's home or workplace)
- passare per + place — to pass through (a route, on the way somewhere else)
- passare di + place (often qui/lì/là) — to pass through here / by here (directional, often with adverbs)
Passo da te stasera dopo cena.
I'll drop by your place tonight after dinner.
Passi dalla farmacia tornando a casa?
Will you stop by the pharmacy on your way home?
Per andare a Napoli passiamo per Roma.
To get to Naples we go through Rome.
Sei mai passato per Bologna in treno?
Have you ever passed through Bologna by train?
Sono passato di qui per caso, e ti ho visto.
I happened to pass by here and I saw you.
Di qui non passa nessuno la sera.
Nobody comes through here in the evening.
The passare da construction at someone's place (passo da te, passo da Marco, passo dal medico) is among the most common uses you'll hear in spoken Italian — it covers everything from "I'll swing by" to "I have a quick appointment with."
Tornare: the basics
Tornare ("to return, to come back, to go back") takes essere in all compound tenses, with the participle agreeing with the subject. The verb has three core uses: returning to a place, returning to a state, and "doing something again" (with the construction tornare a + infinitive).
Returning to a place
Tornare typically takes a (cities, specific places, a casa) or in (countries, regions) for the destination, and da for the origin.
Torno a casa verso le sette.
I'm getting home around seven.
Quando torni in Italia?
When are you coming back to Italy?
È tornata dalle vacanze ieri notte.
She got back from vacation last night.
Torniamo dal mare domani sera.
We're coming back from the seaside tomorrow evening.
Returning to a state
Tornare can describe returning to a previous condition, often with predicate adjectives or set phrases.
Dopo l'influenza è tornato in forma in pochi giorni.
After the flu, he got back in shape in just a few days.
Spero che le cose tornino come prima.
I hope things go back to the way they were.
Tornare a + infinitive — to do again
This construction is one of Italian's neat productive patterns: tornare a + infinitive means "to do something again." It's a more elegant alternative to fare di nuovo.
Sono tornato a fumare dopo dieci anni.
I started smoking again after ten years.
Speriamo di tornare a vederci presto.
Let's hope we get to see each other again soon.
È tornato a piovere proprio adesso.
It just started raining again.
Tornare in mente — to come to mind
A high-frequency idiom: tornare in mente ("to come to mind, to remember suddenly"). Italian uses tornare — return — for the act of a memory resurfacing. The construction is often impersonal: Mi è tornato in mente ("It came back to me").
All'improvviso mi è tornato in mente il suo nome.
His name suddenly came back to me.
Non mi torna in mente dove ho messo le chiavi.
I can't remember where I put my keys.
This contrasts with venire in mente ("to come to mind" — for first-time thoughts, not memories): Mi è venuta un'idea ("An idea came to me"). Use tornare for things you used to know and have just remembered; venire for fresh ideas.
Tornare vs ritornare
Ritornare is a literary or formal synonym of tornare. The two are interchangeable in meaning, but tornare is the everyday choice. Ritornare shows up in poetry, in elevated prose, in song lyrics, and in some fixed expressions, but in conversation you'll hear tornare nine times out of ten.
(formal/literary) Vorrei ritornare ai tempi della mia gioventù.
I would like to return to the days of my youth.
(everyday) Voglio tornare a casa.
I want to go home.
A few fixed expressions favor ritornare (such as ritornare in sé — "to come to one's senses"), but for ordinary "going back," default to tornare.
Common mistakes
❌ Ho passato di qui ieri.
Incorrect — when passare describes motion (no direct object), it takes essere.
✅ Sono passato di qui ieri.
Correct — intransitive passare = essere.
❌ Sono passato l'esame.
Incorrect — when passare takes a direct object (l'esame), it takes avere.
✅ Ho passato l'esame.
Correct — transitive passare = avere.
❌ Passo per te stasera.
Incorrect for 'I'll drop by your place' — 'per' means 'through, via'. For 'stop by at someone's', use 'da'.
✅ Passo da te stasera.
Correct — 'passare da + person' for stopping by their place.
❌ Ho tornato a casa tardi.
Incorrect — tornare always takes essere, regardless of frame.
✅ Sono tornato a casa tardi.
Correct — essere with participle agreement.
❌ Mi è venuto in mente il suo nome.
Acceptable but means 'his name occurred to me' (first time). For remembering something you'd forgotten, use 'tornare in mente'.
✅ Mi è tornato in mente il suo nome.
Correct — 'tornare in mente' for memories resurfacing.
❌ Faccio di nuovo a leggere il libro.
Awkward — Italian prefers 'tornare a + infinitive' for 'doing again'.
✅ Torno a leggere il libro.
Correct — 'tornare a + infinitive' = to do again.
❌ Loro tornàno domani.
Incorrect stress — tòrnano is rizotonic, like every Italian 3pl.
✅ Loro tòrnano domani.
Correct — stress on the root.
Key takeaways
Passare splits its auxiliary by frame: essere for intransitive motion (sono passato di qui) and impersonal time-elapsing (sono passati tre anni); avere for transitive uses with a direct object (ho passato l'esame, ho passato tre ore, mi ha passato il sale).
The three prepositions distinguish the kind of passing: passare da + person/place (stop by), passare per + place (pass through, on the way to somewhere else), passare di + qui/lì/là (pass through here, often directional).
Tornare always takes essere, with full participle agreement. The three core uses are: returning to a place (torno a casa), returning to a state (è tornato in forma), and "doing again" (tornare a + infinitive — è tornato a piovere).
The idiom tornare in mente ("to come back to mind") is reserved for memories you used to know; venire in mente is for fresh thoughts.
For the deictic logic of andare vs venire vs tornare (when to use which from the speaker's reference point), see Andare, Venire, Tornare. For the broader auxiliary-selection picture, see auxiliary choice.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
- Motion Verbs: OverviewA2 — Why most Italian motion verbs take essere in compound tenses — and the small but critical list of exceptions that take avere instead.
- Entrare and Uscire: Enter and ExitA1 — How entrare and uscire pair with their prepositions — entrare in, uscire da, plus the idiomatic 'di casa' for one's own home — and why both take essere in compound tenses.
- Partire and Arrivare: Leave and ArriveA1 — How partire and arrivare pair with their prepositions — partire da/per for departure points and destinations, arrivare a/in for cities and countries — plus the 'arrivare a + infinitive' construction every learner needs.
- Andare, Venire, Tornare: Directional ContrastA1 — Three motion verbs that English collapses into 'go' and 'come' — and the deictic logic Italian uses to keep them apart, including the trap of 'I'm coming' vs 'vengo.'
- Auxiliary Selection: Essere vs Avere (The Critical Decision)A1 — The single grammatical decision that determines how every Italian compound tense works — when to use essere, when to use avere, and how to predict the right answer for any verb.
- Verbs with Ambiguous Auxiliary (correre, cambiare, volare)B1 — The handful of Italian verbs that take essere or avere depending on meaning — directional vs activity, intransitive vs transitive — and the principle that lets you predict them all.