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Most verbs use either avoir or être as the auxiliary verb in Le Passé Composé (Indicatif) (or other compound tense), but passer uses both, depending on its grammatical usage* and what it means in the sentence.
*Grammaphile's Corner : the technical grammatical distinction between these cases is actually whether the verb is used in a transitive or intransitive manner.
- The transitive version (the version with a direct object) uses avoir.
- The intransitive version (lacking a direct object), uses être.
- The transitive version (the version with a direct object) uses avoir.
- The intransitive version (lacking a direct object), uses être.
When to use "avoir" or "être" with the verb "passer" in French
être + passé [devant, par, chez, etc]
= pass by [something/somewhere]
= go past [something/somewhere]
= stop by [somewhere]
= pop by [somewhere]
Note that in each case where être is the auxilliary, the verb passer is followed by a preposition (en, sur, dans, à etc.).
In these cases passer is usually about passing by something, going past something, stopping or popping by somewhere.
In these cases passer is usually about passing by something, going past something, stopping or popping by somewhere.
avoir + passé [quelque chose]
= spend [time]
= take [a test or exam]
= pass [something] to [someone]
When passer is followed immediately by a noun (as opposed to a preposition), it uses avoir as the auxiliary, like most verbs.
It can be very tricky to get the distinction here if you think in terms of what passer means in English (English verbs are very often 'prepositional', meaning we say things like to climb on a horse as well as mount a horse which are equivalent in meaning but grammatically very different - our verbs very often have prepositions where they don't in French!).
Here is the list of all "two-auxiliary" verbs in compound tenses:
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