Intransitive passer
With no direct object, passer means "to pass," and requires être in the compound tenses.
- Le train va passer dans cinq minutes
The train is going to pass / go past in five minutes
Nous sommes passés devant la porte à midi
We passed by the door at noon
- Je vais passer te voir demain
I'll come (by to) see you tomorrow
Pouvez-vous passer acheter du pain ?
Can you go buy some bread?
Transitive passer
When passer has a direct object, it means "to pass/cross/go through" and requires avoir in the compound tenses.
- On doit passer la rivière avant le coucher du soleil
We need to cross the river before sunset
Il a déjà passé la porte
He has already gone through the door
- Nous allons passer deux semaines en France
We're going to spend two weeks in France
J'ai passé trois mois sur ce livre
I spent 3 months on that book
Transitive vs Intransitive
While the meanings are pretty much the same, the difference is in the object (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 passé devant la porte. If there's no preposition, like in J'ai passé la porte, it's transitive.
Se passer
Se passer most often means "to take place," "to happen," or, in reference to time, "to go by":
- Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?
What's going on?
Tout s'est bien passé
Everything went smoothly
Deux jours se sont passés
Two days went by
Expressions with Passer
- passer à la tradition - to break with tradition
ne pas passer à sa parole - to keep / be true to one's word
ne pas passer à sa réputation - to live up to one's reputation
résister jusqu'au bout sans passer - to resist unflinchingly to the end
More expressions with passer
Conjugations
Present tense
- je passe
tu passes
il passe
nous passons
vous passez
ils passent
