Una bandada pasó cerca.

Because bandada is a feminine noun in Spanish, so it takes the feminine indefinite article una.

A good way to notice this is that many nouns ending in -a are feminine, though not all of them.

Pasó is the preterite form of pasar, third person singular:

• yo pasé
• tú pasaste
• él / ella / usted pasó

Here it means it passed or went by. The subject is una bandada, so the verb is singular.

The accent mark is important because it shows both pronunciation and meaning.

• pasó = he/she/it passed or you (formal) passed
• paso = I pass or step

So the accent helps distinguish the past-tense verb form from another word/form.

This is the difference between the preterite and the imperfect.

• pasó presents the action as a completed event: a flock passed by.
• pasaba would sound more like was passing or used to pass, focusing on the action as ongoing or habitual.

So Una bandada pasó cerca sounds like a single completed event.

Here cerca is being used as an adverb, meaning nearby or close by.

So:

• pasó cerca = passed nearby

But if you say what it was near, you normally use cerca de:

• pasó cerca de la casa = it passed near the house

So de is needed before a noun or pronoun, but not when cerca stands on its own.

Not necessarily. In Spanish, just like in English, nearby can be enough if the context already makes it clear.

So Una bandada pasó cerca can naturally mean:

• A flock passed nearby
• A flock went by close by

If the speaker wants to be more specific, they can add the reference point:

• Una bandada pasó cerca de nosotros
• Una bandada pasó cerca de la ventana

Yes. Spanish word order is more flexible than English.

The most neutral order here is:

• Una bandada pasó cerca

But you could also hear:

• Pasó una bandada cerca

That can sound a bit more like introducing the event first: A flock passed nearby.

Spanish often moves things around for emphasis, rhythm, or style, but the original sentence is very standard.

In most of Spain, the c before e is pronounced like the th in think.

So cerca sounds roughly like:

• THER-ka in much of Spain

More precisely: /ˈθeɾ.ka/

Also:

• the r is a tapped Spanish r
• the stress is on the first syllable: CER-ca

Mostly it strongly suggests birds, especially in basic usage. If you say una bandada, many Spanish speakers will picture birds right away.

For other kinds of groups, Spanish often uses different words, for example:

• manada = pack, herd
• rebaño = flock/herd, especially sheep
• grupo = group

So in this sentence, bandada gives a very bird-like image.

Yes. Depending on context, all of these can work:

• A flock passed nearby
• A flock went past nearby
• A flock flew past nearby

The Spanish sentence itself does not explicitly say flew, even though bandada strongly suggests that image. So passed nearby is a safe, direct translation.