Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "pasar" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce pasar in Spanish?

pasar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /paˈsaɾ/. It means “to happen / to pass.” pah-SAR, with the stress at the end and both a's wide open.

pah-SAR, with the stress at the end and both a's wide open.

pasar /paˈsaɾ/

Two syllables, pa-SAR, beat at the end from the r ending. The verb is regular, so the present tense pulls the stress back to the first syllable throughout — PA-so, PA-sas, PA-sa — with only "pa-SA-mos" keeping it in the middle. Every one of those follows the second-to-last-syllable default without needing a mark.

Listen: pasar

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Sound it out

pa An unaspirated p — no puff of air — and a wide "ah" as in "father". Unstressed, but the vowel stays fully open.

sa A hissing s and a second open "ah", this one stressed. The two vowels are identical; only the weight differs.

r One quick flick of the tongue tip to close the word.

Hear it in a sentence

¿Qué pasa aquí?

What's going on here?

Listen: ¿Qué pasa aquí?

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"¿Qué pasa aquí?" is the everyday what's going on, and it links "pasa" straight into "aquí" across the two a sounds, merging them into one longer vowel: PA-sa-KEE. The accent on "aquí" keeps the beat on the final í, and the accent on "qué" marks it as a question word rather than shifting any stress.

Where English speakers slip

The two a's are what give this away. English speakers give the first one a schwa and the second the flat vowel of "sat", producing "puh-SAT". Both should be the wide "ah" of "father". The p also wants to explode, English-style, and needs holding back. As for meaning, this verb is unusually broad — passing, happening, spending time, coming in — so context does far more work than the dictionary entry suggests.