Does passer take avoir or être?

Both, depending on the sentence. With a direct object it takes avoir: j'ai passé une semaine à Nice. With no direct object it takes être and the participle agrees: je suis passé chez toi, elle est passée devant la mairie.

Does passer un examen mean to pass an exam?

No, it means to sit one. J'ai passé le bac tells you nothing about the outcome. To say you passed, use réussir: j'ai réussi le bac. To say you failed, use rater or échouer à.

What does qu'est-ce qui se passe mean?

It means what's happening or what's going on, and it is the standard way to ask. The pronominal se passer is the only form of the verb that means to happen, which is why the se cannot be dropped.

How do you say to do without something in French?

Se passer de: je me passe de sucre, on peut se passer de voiture. With a pronoun it becomes s'en passer, as in je m'en passe très bien. The de is obligatory and separates this meaning from se passer on its own.

How do you say I'll stop by later?

Je passerai plus tard, or je passe te voir plus tard. Passer plus chez, voir, or prendre is the everyday way to describe dropping in on someone, and it always takes être in the compound tenses: je suis passé, elle est passée.

French grammar · Intermediate

Passer in French: Avoir or Être, and All Its Meanings

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Passer is a regular -er verb with an unusual habit: it takes avoir when it has a direct object (j'ai passé une semaine à Nice) and être when it doesn't (je suis passé chez toi). It also means to sit an exam rather than to pass one, and in its pronominal form se passer it means to happen.

Je suis passé chez toi, mais tu n'étais pas là.

I stopped by your place, but you weren't there.

What it is

Passer describes something moving past a point: a person past a house, a week past on a calendar, the salt past your neighbour at dinner. Whether it takes avoir or être in compound tenses depends entirely on whether that movement has a direct object attached to it.

J'ai passé trois jours à Lyon, puis je suis passé par Dijon. — I spent three days in Lyon, then I went via Dijon.

How to spot it

Look immediately after passer. If a noun sits there with no preposition, that noun is the direct object and the auxiliary is avoir. If a preposition follows instead, the auxiliary is être.

J'ai passé la soirée à lire. — I spent the evening reading. (la soirée = object → avoir)
Je suis passé devant chez elle. — I walked past her place. (devant = preposition → être)
Elle a passé son permis. — She took her driving test. (son permis = object → avoir)
Elle est passée à la banque. — She stopped in at the bank. (à = preposition → être)

When passer takes être, the participle agrees with the subject: elle est passée, ils sont passés. With avoir it stays flat: elle a passé.

Passer Quick Reference

The main senses of passer

Use	Auxiliary	Example
To spend time	avoir	J'ai passé un an à Berlin. — I spent a year in Berlin.
To sit an exam or test	avoir	Il a passé le bac. — He sat his final exams.
To hand something over	avoir	Passe-moi le sel. — Pass me the salt.
To go past or via	être	On est passés par Tours. — We went via Tours.
To drop in somewhere	être	Je suis passé au bureau. — I dropped in at the office.
To move on to a next stage	être	Elle est passée en deuxième année. — She moved up to the second year.
To happen (se passer)	être	Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ? — What happened?

Common Passer Examples in French

Passer in each of its everyday jobs:

Spending Time

J'ai passé deux ans en Italie.: I spent two years in Italy.
On a passé la soirée à jouer aux cartes.: We spent the evening playing cards.
Elle a passé son enfance à la campagne.: She spent her childhood in the countryside.
Passe un bon week-end !: Have a good weekend!

To say what you spent the time doing, French uses à plus an infinitive: passer la soirée à lire, never en lisant.

Going Past, Dropping In

Je suis passé devant la boulangerie.: I walked past the bakery.
Tu peux passer chez moi ce soir ?: Can you come round to mine this evening?
Nous sommes passés par Bordeaux.: We went via Bordeaux.
Elle est passée me voir hier.: She came by to see me yesterday.

Passer chez, passer voir, and passer prendre are the standard ways to describe a short informal visit.

Exams, Handing Over, Phone Calls

J'ai passé mon permis en juin.: I took my driving test in June.
Passe-moi le journal, s'il te plaît.: Pass me the newspaper, please.
Il m'a passé son numéro.: He gave me his number.
Je vous passe le service commercial.: I'll put you through to the sales department.

Passer un examen means sitting it. Passing it is réussir un examen, and failing it is rater or échouer à.

Se Passer

Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?: What's going on?
Tout s'est bien passé.: Everything went well.
Je peux me passer de café.: I can do without coffee.
Il ne se passe rien ici.: Nothing ever happens here.

Se passer on its own means to happen; se passer de plus a noun means to do without.

How Passer Works

The conjugation is entirely regular. Everything difficult about passer is in the auxiliary and in the meanings that do not map onto English pass.

A Direct Object Pulls In Avoir

Passer is one of a small group of verbs that switch auxiliary depending on whether they have an object. Give it something to pass and it behaves like a normal transitive verb with avoir.

Nous avons passé les vacances chez mes parents.

We spent the holidays at my parents' place.

Object present → avoir.

No Object Means Être and Agreement

Used intransitively, passer joins the group of movement verbs that take être, which means the past participle has to agree with the subject in gender and number.

Mes cousines sont passées ce matin.

My cousins came by this morning.

No object → être + agreement.

Passer un Examen Is Sitting It

This is the most consequential false friend in the verb. Passer un examen reports that you took the exam; whether you passed is a separate question answered by réussir.

J'ai passé le concours, mais je ne l'ai pas réussi.

I sat the entrance exam, but I didn't pass it.

passer = sit, réussir = pass.

Se Passer Is Not the Same Verb

In the pronominal form, passer means to take place. It is almost always used with an impersonal or abstract subject: quelque chose, tout, rien, ça, or the question word qui.

Ça s'est passé la semaine dernière.

It happened last week.

se passer = to happen.

The Preposition Sets the Sense

Passer par is a route, passer chez is a visit, passer devant is walking past, passer à is dropping in or moving on to a new stage. The verb barely changes; the preposition does the work.

On passe à table.

Let's sit down to eat.

par, chez, devant, à — each a different passer.

Common Mistakes with Passer

Incorrect: J'ai passé chez Marie hier soir. — I stopped by Marie's last night.

Correct: Je suis passé chez Marie hier soir. — I stopped by Marie's last night.

Chez Marie is a prepositional phrase, not a direct object, so passer is intransitive here and takes être.

Incorrect: J'ai passé mon examen, donc j'ai mon diplôme. — I passed my exam, so I have my diploma.

Correct: J'ai réussi mon examen, donc j'ai mon diplôme. — I passed my exam, so I have my diploma.

Passer un examen only says you sat it. To claim the result you need réussir, or être reçu in more formal usage.

Incorrect: Qu'est-ce qui passe ? — What's going on?

Correct: Qu'est-ce qui se passe ? — What's going on?

The happening sense of passer only exists in the pronominal form. Without se, the question asks what is physically going past.

Incorrect: J'ai passé la soirée en lisant. — I spent the evening reading.

Correct: J'ai passé la soirée à lire. — I spent the evening reading.

Passer du temps is followed by à plus an infinitive. The present participle in -ant looks like the English -ing form but is not used after passer.

Passer Conjugated, Both Ways

The simple tenses are those of any regular -er verb. The compound tenses are where you have to choose an auxiliary, so they are worth seeing side by side.

The Simple Tenses

Nothing irregular happens here: passer takes the standard -er endings in every simple tense.

Pronoun	Présent	Imparfait	Futur
je	passe	passais	passerai
tu	passes	passais	passeras
il / elle / on	passe	passait	passera
nous	passons	passions	passerons
vous	passez	passiez	passerez
ils / elles	passent	passaient	passeront

Je passe, tu passes and ils passent all sound the same. Only the written ending distinguishes them.

Passé Composé, Both Auxiliaries

The left column is transitive passer, with an object and no agreement. The right column is intransitive passer, with être and full agreement on the participle.

Pronoun	avoir — with an object	être — no object
je / j'	ai passé	suis passé / passée
tu	as passé	es passé / passée
il / elle / on	a passé	est passé / passée
nous	avons passé	sommes passés / passées
vous	avez passé	êtes passé(s) / passée(s)
ils / elles	ont passé	sont passés / passées

Se passer always uses être, because every pronominal verb does: ça s'est passé, tout s'est bien passé.

Se Passer and Se Passer De

The pronominal forms carry two of passer's most common meanings, and neither is guessable from the basic verb.

Se passer = to happen

With an impersonal subject, se passer reports an event. It is the everyday equivalent of arriver and avoir lieu, and it is how French asks what is going on.

Qu'est-ce qui se passe ?: What's happening?
Ça s'est mal passé.: It went badly.
L'histoire se passe en 1920.: The story takes place in 1920.
Il ne s'est rien passé.: Nothing happened.

Note the question form: qu'est-ce qui se passe, with qui rather than que, because the event is the subject.

Se passer de = to do without

Add de and the meaning changes completely. Se passer de takes a noun or an infinitive and describes managing in the absence of something.

Je ne peux pas me passer de mon téléphone.: I can't do without my phone.
On se passera de dessert.: We'll go without dessert.
Tu peux t'en passer.: You can manage without it.
Elle s'est passée de voiture pendant un an.: She went without a car for a year.

Because the reflexive pronoun is the direct object here, the participle agrees with the subject: elle s'est passée.

Everyday passer phrases

A handful of collocations use passer where English uses a completely different verb.

Je vais passer un coup de fil.: I'm going to make a quick call.
Il faut passer l'aspirateur.: The vacuuming needs doing.
Passons à autre chose.: Let's move on to something else.
Elle est passée inaperçue.: She went unnoticed.

Passer inaperçu behaves like an adjective phrase, so it agrees with the subject: il est passé inaperçu, elles sont passées inaperçues.

Passer FAQs

Does passer take avoir or être?: Both, depending on the sentence. With a direct object it takes avoir: j'ai passé une semaine à Nice. With no direct object it takes être and the participle agrees: je suis passé chez toi, elle est passée devant la mairie.
Does passer un examen mean to pass an exam?: No, it means to sit one. J'ai passé le bac tells you nothing about the outcome. To say you passed, use réussir: j'ai réussi le bac. To say you failed, use rater or échouer à.
What does qu'est-ce qui se passe mean?: It means what's happening or what's going on, and it is the standard way to ask. The pronominal se passer is the only form of the verb that means to happen, which is why the se cannot be dropped.
How do you say to do without something in French?: Se passer de: je me passe de sucre, on peut se passer de voiture. With a pronoun it becomes s'en passer, as in je m'en passe très bien. The de is obligatory and separates this meaning from se passer on its own.
How do you say I'll stop by later?: Je passerai plus tard, or je passe te voir plus tard. Passer plus chez, voir, or prendre is the everyday way to describe dropping in on someone, and it always takes être in the compound tenses: je suis passé, elle est passée.