Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!® The Many Uses for “Passare”

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, for Learn Travel Italian.com

Do you want to speak Italian more easily and confidently by the end of 2020? 

I will try to help you with this goal by posting a new blog every month in the series “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!”®  With these blogs, I discuss how Italians use their language on a daily basis and in so doing help you to “think in Italian.” 

Many Italian verbs are similar to those in English, which sometimes makes it easy to transition between English and Italian during conversation. However, many times the use of an Italian verb will vary  from the way a verb with a similar meaning is used in English.  Passare, the  Italian verb that means “to pass by” is one of those verbs that is important to “get to know” if one wants to use it correctly.

As I’ve said before, I believe that “commonly used phrases” are the key for how we can all build fluency in any language in a short time.

If we learn how to incorporate “commonly used phrases”  when use the Italian verb passare, we will be able to communicate just as we do in our native language!

This post is the 33rd in a series of Italian phrases we have been trying out in our Conversational Italian! Facebook group.  If you’d like to read the earlier posts in the series, “Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day!” just click HERE

Many “commonly used phrases” in conversation

use the Italian verb
passare.

See below for how this works.

As we all master these phrases, so will you. Try my method and let me know how it works. What sentences will you create with these phrases?

Please reply. I’d love to hear from you! Or join our Conversational Italian! group discussion on Facebook.

The basics of the Italian language are introduced in the Conversational Italian for Travelers textbook and reference books Just the Verbs and Just the Grammar  

                       found on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com.

The rights to purchase the Conversational Italian for Travelers books in PDF format on two electronic devices can also be obtained at Learn Travel Italian.com.

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Let’s Talk About…

The Many Uses for the  Italian Verb Passare

The Italian verb passare means “to pass,” as in “to pass through,” “pass by,” “pass time,” or “spend time.” This verb is used in many ways in Italian! We use the verb “to pass” or “passed” less often in informal English, often defaulting to more general English verbs like, “get/gone,” put” or “spend/spent” when we really mean “pass or passed.” But in Italian, it is important to be more specific and use the verb passare if you want to sound like a native when describing situations that have come to pass!

1. Use passare when you will “pick up” or “spend time with” someone

• Use the Italian verb passare when you want to “pass by” and “pick someone up.” Passare is used in the important everyday expression “passare a prendere,” which means “to pick (someone) up (by car).”  
• In the same way, use the verb passare to describe “dropping in to see” someone or “dropping in to visit” someone with the phrases, “passare a far visita” and “passare a trovare.” The latter phrase is similar to, but not identical in meaning to “andare a trovare,” which you may recall means “to go to visit” someone.
• If you are inviting someone to visit you informally, but in an business setting, simply use passare with “in ufficio.” This phrase may be useful if you do not have a specific time you need to see someone on a particular day.
• Another common informal phrase is “passare un attimo da casa,” which means, “to drop by the house for a bit.” Use this phrase to invite a friend over for an informal get-together or quick meeting at your house. If you use the verb passare in conversation, this will signal both your familiarity with both the person you are visiting, and with the Italian language!

Passerò/Passo a prenderti alle otto.”

I will (pass by and) pick you up at 8 AM.”

Side note: if you want to ask someone to “pick you up” from a particular place, venire is used with prendere:

“Può venire alla stazione a prendermi?”

“Can you (polite) come to the station and get me?”

And a few more examples:

Domani, passo a far visita a mia zia Anna.

Tomorrow, I will drop in to see my Aunt Ann.

Domenica, passo a trovare la mia amica del cuore Maria.

On Sunday, I will drop in to visit my dear friend Maria.

Per favore, passi in ufficio domani mattina, alle otto o dopo.

Please drop in to my office tomorrow morning, at 8 AM or later. (polite)

La settimana prossima, passeremo un attimo da casa mia.

Next week, let’s drop by my house for a bit.

2. Use passare to mention somebody “passing by.”

• If a person has recently “passed by,” someone else or “passed by”/ “gone through” a place, whether walking or driving, we must use essere as our past tense helping verb. Notice that this differs from English, and the English translation uses the verb “to have” instead.

“Ma quando Giovanni è passato davanti a me, l’ho riconosciuto.”

“But when John passed by in front of me, I recognized him.”

Michele non in piazza ancora. È passato!

Michael is not in the piazza anymore. He has passed by!

3. Use passare when making references about time

• Use the verb passare to talk about time “passing by” in Italian, just as we do in English.  Time “passes by” all by itself, and is the subject of the sentence, so we must use essere (to be) as our past tense helping verb.

“Quanto tempo è passato!” ha detto Maria quando lei ha incontrato una vecchia amica* per strada.

“How much time has gone by!” Mary said when she met an old friend on the street.

*una vecchia amica = an old (longtime) friend; una amica vecchia= a friend that is old in years

• If we want to talk about how we were doing something “to pass the time,” in the recent past, or if we have “spent time at” a certain location, we must use the verb passare with avere as our helping verb for the past tense.
• To mention that you have “passed the night together with someone,” and imply a close relationship with that person, use the phrase, “passare una serata insieme.” 
• To express the wish that someone “passes time well” over the holidays, use the verb passare with avere for the helping verb. (Notice the use of the subjunctive tense for avere with the verb sperare (to wish) in the example sentence.)

Ieri, ho passato tutto il pomeriggio a casa di Giulia.

Yesterday, I stayed at Julia’s house all afternoon.

Ieri sera, io e Michele abbiamo passato la serata insieme.

Last night, Michael and I spent the night together.

“Passa un buon Natale a Chicago!”

“Have (spend) a nice Christmas in Chicago!”

“Spero che la famiglia abbia passato un buon Natale!”

“I hope that the family had a nice Christmas!”

• In order “to let” or “allow” time, an event or comment to “pass by,” or to be ignored, we must use two verbs: lasciare and passare.  If you want to read more about how to say “let” in Italian, visit our previous blog on this topic, “Italian Phrases You Will Use EVERY Day — ‘Let me…’ and ‘Let’s!’ Lasciare and Fare.”

Lascia passare  i mesi dell’inverno e d’estate pensiamo alle vacanze.

Let the winter months pass and in the summer we will think about vacation.

4. Use passare when talking on the telephone

• Use the verb passare to ask someone to “put through” another person talking on the telephone to you. This situation is encountered most often at work, of course, when trying to reach an individual important enough to have a secretary to screen calls. The first example given below is therefore in the polite tense. Now-a-days many individuals have cell phones, so it is less common, but still possible, to call a land-line at home and have a family member answer, so the same question may also be useful in the familiar tense.
• When describing the act of passing the phone to someone in the past tense, use the helping verb avere (to have).
• Notice the use of definite and definite pronouns to replace subject pronouns and names in the last examples.  If you need a refresher course on how to use these pronouns, check out Chapter   in Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Grammar.

Mi può passare il signor Rossi?	Can you put me through to Mr. Rossi?
Passami Michele!	Put me through to Michael!
Ho passato Michele a te.	I’ve put Michael through to you. (Italian “a te” not frequently used.)
Ti ho passato Michele!	I’ve put Michael through to you!
Te l’ho passato!	I’ve put him through to you!

5. Use the reflexive passarsi to exchange things with someone

• Finally, the reflexive verb, passarsi, has a slightly different meaning from the non-reflexive form that we have been discussing above.  The reflexive verb passarsi means “to exchange” something and is used in the same way as the verb scambiarsi. Both verbs take essere in the past tense, of course, because they are reflexive!

“Allora, ci siamo passati i numeri di telefono per tenerci in contatto d’ora in poi.”

“Anyway, we exchanged telephone numbers and will stay in contact from now on.”

Remember how to use the Italian verb passare in conversation and I guarantee
you will use this verb every day!

Conversational Italian for Travelers “Just the Verbs”

   Available on amazon.com and Learn Travel Italian.com