passar — to pass, to spend (time)

How to use passar in Brazilian Portuguese

Passar is the Brazilian Portuguese verb for to pass, to spend (time). It is a regular -ar verb, so once you know the endings there are no surprises.

Three tenses do almost all the work in conversation. The presente covers the present and the near future: eu passo — I pass / spend (time). The pretérito perfeito is the finished past, the English simple past: eu passei — I passed / spent (time). The pretérito imperfeito is for habits, background and how things used to be: eu passava — I used to pass / spend / was passing (time). Because passar is one of the 58 most-used verbs, the page also has both subjunctives: the presente do subjuntivo, the mood of wishes, doubts and “quero que…” — eu passe — that I pass / spend (time) — and the imperfeito do subjuntivo, the tense of hypotheticals: eu passasse — if I passed / spent (time).

Said the Rio way, passo sounds like PAH-soo. The nós form passamos ends in the carioca “sh”, pah-SAH-moosh — the most recognisable sound of the Rio accent, where São Paulo says a plain s.