Eu passei pelo pedágio sem perceber, porque estava pensando na redação.

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Breakdown of Eu passei pelo pedágio sem perceber, porque estava pensando na redação.

• estar: to be
• porque: because
• sem: without

Questions & Answers about Eu passei pelo pedágio sem perceber, porque estava pensando na redação.

Why is it pelo pedágio and not just o pedágio or no pedágio?

Because passar por is the usual expression for to go through / to pass by a place.

• por + o = pelo
• So pelo pedágio literally means through the toll booth / past the toll point

Examples:

• Passei pelo banco. = I passed by the bank.
• Passei pela ponte. = I went over / through the bridge area.

If you said no pedágio (em + o = no), that would sound more like at the toll booth, focusing on location rather than the act of passing through it.

What does pedágio mean here exactly?

Pedágio can mean:

• the toll itself (the fee)
• the toll booth / toll plaza / toll point, depending on context

In this sentence, it most naturally refers to the toll booth or toll point the speaker went through.

So passei pelo pedágio is something like:

• I went through the toll booth
• I passed the toll plaza

What tense is passei?