Learn Spanish (Latin America): El espía pasa desapercibido, pero hoy se pasa. - The spy goes unnoticed, but today he goes too far.

El espía pasa desapercibido, pero hoy se pasa.

The spy goes unnoticed, but today he goes too far.

Breakdown of El espía pasa desapercibido, pero hoy se pasa.

to come in / to pass / to spend / have (time)

el espía

the spy

Questions & Answers about El espía pasa desapercibido, pero hoy se pasa.

How does adding the pronoun se change the meaning of the verb pasar in the second half of the sentence?

In the first half, the non-pronominal verb pasar means "to pass" or "to go" (as in the phrase pasar desapercibido, "to go unnoticed"). When used as the pronominal verb pasarse, it undergoes a lexical shift and means "to go too far" or "to cross the line."

Why is it el espía and desapercibido if the noun ends in an "-a"?

The word espía is a common-gender noun, meaning the spelling of the word itself doesn't change regardless of whether the spy is male or female. Because this sentence uses the masculine article el, we know the spy is male, which is why the adjective must also be masculine: desapercibido. For a female spy, it would be la espía pasa desapercibida.

In English we say "goes unnoticed." Could I use the verb ir instead of pasar to translate this?

No, pasar desapercibido is a fixed expression in Spanish. Translating it literally with ir (ir desapercibido) sounds unnatural to native speakers.

Does pasarse always mean "to go too far" in a negative way?