All About the French Regular Verb Passer (to Pass)

Passer (to pass) is a very common and useful regular -er verb, by far the largest group of verbs in the French language. It may be used as a transitive verb that takes a direct object or an intransitive verb, and in doing so, its  compound tenses  are conjugated with either  avoir  or  Ãƒ ªtre. Intransitive Passer   à ªtre With no direct object, passer means to pass and requires à ªtre in the compound tenses: Le train va passer dans cinq minutes.   The train is going to pass / go past in five minutes.Nous sommes passà ©s devant la porte à   midi.   We passed by the door at noon When followed by an infinitive, passer means to go / come to do something: Je vais passer te voir demain.   Ill come (by to) see you tomorrow.Pouvez-vous passer acheter du pain  ?   Can you go buy some bread? Transitive Passer Avoir When passer is transitive and has a direct object, it means to pass, to cross, to go through, and it requires avoir as the auxiliary verb  in the compound tenses. On doit passer la rivià ¨re avant le coucher du soleil.   We need to cross the river before sunset.Il a dà ©jà   passà © la porte.   He has already gone through the door. Passer is also used transitively with a period of time to mean to spend: Nous allons passer deux semaines en France.   Were going to spend two weeks in FranceJai passà © trois mois sur ce livre.   Ã‚  I spent 3 months on that book Transitive versus Intransitive While the meanings are nearly the same, the difference is in the object (the noun following the verb). If there is no object, or if a preposition separates the verb and object, the verb is intransitive, as in Je suis passà © devant la porte. If theres no preposition, as in Jai passà © la porte, its transitive. Se Passer The pronominal se passer most often means to take place, to happen, or, in reference to time, to go by. Quest-ce qui se passe  ?   Whats going on?Tout sest bien passà ©.   Everything went smoothly.Deux jours se sont passà ©s.   Two days went by. Expressions With Passer With  idiomatic expressions  using the French verb  passer, you can butter someone up,  handcuff someone, kick the bucket, and more. passer   clothing  Ã‚  to slip on/intopasser   infinitive  Ã‚  to go do somethingpasser à   la douane   to go through customspasser à   la radio/tà ©là ©   to be on the radio/TVpasser à   lheure dà ©tà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  to turn the clocks foward, begin daylight saving timepasser à   lheure dhiver  Ã‚  to turn the clocks back, end daylight saving timepasser à   pas lents   to pass slowlypasser de bons moments   to have a good timepasser de bouche en bouche   to be rumored aboutpasser des faux billets   to pass forged moneypasser devant Monsieur le maire   to get marriedpasser du coq à   là ¢ne  Ã‚  to change the subject, make a non sequiturpasser en courant   to run pastpasser en revue   to list; to go over in ones mind, go through  (figurative)  passer (en)   ordinal number  Ã‚  to put in ___ gearpasser là ¢ge de   to be too old forpasser larme à   gauche  (familiar)  Ã‚  to kick the bucketpasser la journà ©e/soirà ©e   to spend the day/eveningpasser la main dans le dos à   quelquun   to butter someone uppasser la tà ªte à   la porte   to poke ones head around the doorpasser le cap   to get past the worst, turn the corner, get over the hurdlepasser le cap des 40 ans   to turn 40passer le poteau   to cross the finish linepasser les bornes   to go too farpasser les menottes à   quelquun   to handcuff someonepasser par   to go through (an experience or intermediary)passer par de dures à ©preuves   to go through some rough timespasser par toutes les couleurs de larc-en-ciel   to blush to the roots of ones hair, to turn pale (from fear)passer par luniversità ©   to go through collegepasser pour   to take for, be taken forpasser quelque chose à   quelquun   to pass/hand something to someonepasser quelque chose aux/par profits et pertes   to write something off (as a loss)passer quelque chose en fraude   to smuggle somethingpasser quelque chose sous silence   to pass something o ver in silencepasser quelquun à   tabac   to beat someone uppasser quelquun par les armes   to shoot someone by firing squadpasser sa colà ¨re sur quelquun   to take out ones anger on someonepasser sa mauvaise humeur sur quelquun   to take out ones bad mood on someonepasser sa vie à   faire   to spend ones life doing Conjugations You can see all the tenses  of passer, both simple and compound,  conjugated elsewhere. For now, below is the present tense to illustrate that passer hews exactly to regular -er conjugation endings.   Present tense: je passetu  passesil passenous  passonsvous  passezils  passent