Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Se me pasa el cansancio cuando escucho música. - My tiredness goes away when I listen to music.

se belongs to the verb pasarse, which here means “to wear off / to go away” (used with things like pain, tiredness, fear, etc.).
me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to/for me”, marking the person who experiences the change.

So se me pasa el cansancio is “the tiredness goes away on me / for me”, which in natural English is “my tiredness goes away” or “I stop feeling tired”.

Who is the grammatical subject in Se me pasa el cansancio?

The subject is el cansancio.

pasa is in the 3rd person singular to agree with el cansancio.
me is not the subject; it’s an indirect object (the person affected).

You could rearrange it (with a slight change in emphasis) as El cansancio se me pasa cuando escucho música, and it’s even clearer that el cansancio is the subject.

Can I say Me pasa el cansancio without se? Does it mean the same thing?

No, Me pasa el cansancio is not the normal way to say this and sounds wrong or confusing.

Me pasa… usually means “something happens to me” or “something occurs to me” (e.g. Me pasa algo raro = “Something strange is happening to me”).
To mean “wear off / go away” with symptoms or feelings, Spanish normally uses pasarse with se:
- Se me pasa el cansancio.
- Se me pasa el dolor.
- Se me pasan los nervios.

So you really need the se here: Se me pasa el cansancio.

Why is it el cansancio and not mi cansancio?

In Spanish, physical or emotional states are often expressed with a definite article (el, la, los, las) rather than a possessive when it’s obvious whose state it is.

Because you already have me, which shows that you are the affected person, adding mi is unnecessary and would sound odd here.

So:

Se me pasa el cansancio = natural, idiomatic.
Se me pasa mi cansancio = grammatically possible but stylistically wrong; Spanish speakers don’t say it that way.

Can I drop el cansancio and just say Se me pasa cuando escucho música?

Yes, if it’s clear from context what se refers to, you can omit el cansancio:

Estoy muy cansado, pero se me pasa cuando escucho música.
(“I’m very tired, but it goes away when I listen to music.”)

In that case, se me pasa is understood as “my tiredness goes away” because it has already been mentioned. This kind of omission is very common in Spanish once the noun is known from context.

Could I use se me quita or se me va instead of se me pasa? Do they sound different?

Yes, both are very common and natural, especially in Spain:

Se me quita el cansancio cuando escucho música.
Se me va el cansancio cuando escucho música.

Differences in nuance (all are correct and close in meaning):

se me pasa – wears off / passes, slightly neutral.
se me quita – is taken away / goes away, very common.
se me va – goes away / leaves, a bit more informal in feel.

In everyday speech, all three are used; choice often depends on personal habit or rhythm of the sentence.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say El cansancio se me pasa cuando escucho música?

Yes, El cansancio se me pasa cuando escucho música is also correct.

The main possible orders are:

Se me pasa el cansancio cuando escucho música. (very natural)
El cansancio se me pasa cuando escucho música. (also natural, a bit more “subject-first”)
Cuando escucho música, se me pasa el cansancio. (with the time clause first)

Spanish word order is flexible; you mainly need to keep the clitic pronouns (se, me) right next to the verb (pasa).

Why is it cuando escucho and not cuando escuche?

Because the sentence is talking about a habitual, real action in the present: “when I (normally) listen to music, my tiredness (normally) goes away.”

In Spanish:

For real, habitual, or present-time facts, you use the present indicative after cuando:
- Cuando escucho música, se me pasa el cansancio.
You use the subjunctive (cuando escuche) when referring to a future or hypothetical event:
- Cuando escuche música, se me pasará el cansancio.
  (“When I listen to music (in the future), my tiredness will go away.”)

Here, the idea is general and habitual, so cuando escucho is the right form.

What is the difference between escuchar música and oír música?

Roughly:

escuchar = to listen (intentionally, paying attention)
oír = to hear (perceive sound)

In practice:

Escucho música suggests you are actively putting music on and paying attention.
Oigo música suggests you’re hearing music (maybe in the background, maybe not deliberately).

In the sentence Se me pasa el cansancio cuando escucho música, escucho is perfect: it implies you choose to listen to music and that activity makes the tiredness go away.

Could I say something with estar cansado instead of el cansancio?

Yes, but you would need to change the verb structure. The noun el cansancio works very well with pasarse; the adjective cansado would usually go with a different verb:

Dejo de estar cansado cuando escucho música.
(“I stop being tired when I listen to music.”)
No estoy tan cansado cuando escucho música.

Formally you could say something like Se me pasa estar cansado, but it sounds unnatural. For this pattern with se me pasa, Spanish prefers a noun: se me pasa el cansancio.

Is Se me pasa el cansancio formal, informal, or neutral? Is it used in Spain?

It’s neutral everyday Spanish and completely natural in Spain. You could use it with friends, family, or in fairly neutral conversation.

In a more formal or medical context, someone might say something like:

La sensación de cansancio desaparece cuando escucho música.

But in normal spoken Spanish (including in Spain), Se me pasa el cansancio cuando escucho música is exactly what people would say.