L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

Because il shortens to l’ before a masculine singular noun that begins with a vowel.

• il uomo → l’uomo
• This is called elision.

You’ll see the same thing with:

• l’amico
• l’albero
• l’orso

So L’uomo simply means the man.

In Italian, the names of months are normally not capitalized, unlike in English.

So:

• gennaio
• febbraio
• marzo

This is standard Italian spelling. The same is true for days of the week:

• lunedì
• martedì
• mercoledì

Here che means that.

The structure is:

• L’uomo pensa = The man thinks
• che febbraio passi in fretta = that February passes/goes by quickly

So che introduces a subordinate clause, just like English that does.

In everyday English, that is often omitted, but in Italian che is usually expressed:

• Penso che sia vero = I think (that) it is true

Because after pensa che, Italian often uses the subjunctive.

Here:

• passa = indicative
• passi = present subjunctive

The sentence uses:

• L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

This is a very common pattern in Italian:

• pensare che + subjunctive
• credere che + subjunctive
• immaginare che + subjunctive

So passi is the subjunctive form of passare for febbraio.

Very often, yes, especially in standard Italian when it introduces something thought, believed, or assumed rather than presented as a fact.

Examples:

• Penso che lui abbia ragione.
• Credo che sia tardi.

However, in spoken Italian, you may sometimes hear the indicative where grammar books would prefer the subjunctive. But for learners, the safest rule is:

• pensare che + subjunctive

So this sentence is a good model.

Passi is the present subjunctive of passare.

Here is the present subjunctive of passare:

• che io passi
• che tu passi
• che lui/lei passi
• che noi passiamo
• che voi passiate
• che loro passino

In your sentence, the subject is febbraio, which is third-person singular, so the form is passi.

Here passare means to pass or to go by, in the sense of time passing.

So febbraio passi in fretta means:

• February passes quickly
• February goes by quickly

Italian often uses passare for time:

• Il tempo passa. = Time passes.
• La giornata passa in fretta. = The day goes by quickly.

In fretta means quickly or in a hurry.

Literally, it is a prepositional expression:

• in
  • fretta

Italian often uses expressions like this where English uses a single adverb.

Examples:

• parlare in fretta = to speak quickly
• fare tutto in fretta = to do everything quickly/in a hurry

So passi in fretta means passes quickly.

Because months usually appear without an article when speaking generally or naming the month.

So:

• Febbraio è corto. = February is short.
• Aspetto febbraio. = I’m waiting for February.

An article can appear in some contexts, but here it is not needed. Febbraio is simply the subject of the clause.

The subject is febbraio.

In the clause:

• che febbraio passi in fretta

the month February is the thing doing the action of passing.

So:

• febbraio = subject
• passi = verb
• in fretta = adverbial expression

You may hear something like that in casual speech, but in standard Italian grammar, passi is the expected form.

So the more correct version for a learner is:

• L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

Using passa instead of passi would sound less formal or less standard in this type of sentence.

Because this sentence follows a very common and straightforward Italian pattern:

• L’uomo = subject
• pensa = main verb
• che febbraio passi in fretta = subordinate clause

Italian word order is often flexible, but in simple statements it commonly follows subject + verb + rest of sentence, just like English.

That makes this sentence relatively easy to follow structurally, even though the subjunctive passi is the main grammatical challenge.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta
LWAW-mo PEN-sa kay feb-BRAH-yo PAH-see een FRET-ta

A few useful notes:

• L’uomo begins with a smooth link: lwo-
• che sounds like keh
• febbraio has the stress on -bra-
• passi has a double s, so the s sound is held a little longer
• fretta also has a double consonant: tt

If you want to sound more natural, pay attention to those double consonants in passi and fretta.