Pasar: Full Conjugation

Pasar is one of the most flexible verbs in Spanish. It means "to pass," "to happen," "to spend (time)," and "to come in." It's the verb you use when asking what's wrong (¿qué pasa?), inviting someone in (pase, por favor), or talking about how time was spent (pasé un buen día).

Pasar is a completely regular -ar verb. None of its forms show any irregularity, which makes it conjugationally simple but lexically rich — its meaning shifts dramatically depending on what preposition or context follows it.

Present Indicative

Preterite

Imperfect

Future

Conditional

Present Subjunctive

Imperfect Subjunctive (-ra forms)

Imperative

Non-Finite Forms

• Infinitive: pasar
• Gerund: pasando
• Past participle: pasado

Compound Tenses

The compound tenses use haber plus the past participle pasado.

Present Perfect

Pluperfect

Future Perfect

Conditional Perfect

Present Perfect Subjunctive

Pluperfect Subjunctive

Progressive Forms

Progressive forms use estar with the gerund pasando.

Present Progressive

Past Progressive

Future Progressive

Common Collocations and Expressions

• pasarlo bien / mal — to have a good / bad time
• pasársela bien — to have a great time (LATAM)
• pasar de — to not care about, to ignore (someone)
• pasar por alto — to overlook, ignore
• pasar por — to go through; to drop by
• pasar a + infinitive — to proceed to
• pasar la noche — to spend the night
• pasar lista — to call roll
• pasar de moda — to go out of fashion
• pasar de largo — to walk straight by
• pasarse de la raya — to cross the line
• pasarlo en grande — to have a great time
• ¿qué pasa? — what's up? what's happening?
• ¿qué te pasa? — what's wrong with you?
• eso pasa — that happens (it's normal)
• pasar el rato — to pass the time
• dejar pasar — to let by, miss (an opportunity)

Common Errors (for English speakers)

• ❌ Sucedo a tu casa. / ✅ Paso por tu casa. — Use pasar por for "to drop by," not suceder.
• ❌ Pasé un buen tiempo. / ✅ La pasé bien. / Lo pasé bien. — Use the fixed expression with the pronoun lo/la, not a literal "good time."
• ❌ Qué pasa contigo? (when concerned) / ⚠️ ¿Qué te pasa? — ¿Qué te pasa? is the natural way to ask "what's wrong with you?"
• ❌ Pasé tres horas estudiar. / ✅ Pasé tres horas estudiando. — Use the gerund, not the infinitive, after a time period with pasar.
• ❌ Paso de ti. (when you mean "I'm bypassing you") / ⚠️ Paso de ti literally means "I don't care about you" — use carefully.
• ❌ Está pasado de moda. / ✅ Está pasado de moda. — That one is correct! But watch for pasar de moda (the action) vs. estar pasado de moda (the state).

Related Verbs

• suceder — formal "to happen, occur."
• ocurrir — "to happen." Synonym for one sense of pasar.
• acontecer — literary "to come to pass."
• transcurrir — formal "to elapse" (of time).
• atravesar — "to cross, to go through."
• divertirse — "to have fun" (compare with pasarlo bien).

Cross-references

• Llevar: full conjugation
• Dejar: full conjugation
• Seguir: full conjugation
• Reflexive pasársela / pasarlo
• Pasar vs. suceder vs. ocurrir