qué pasó
/ke paso/from spelling rules
In Spanish, qué pasó is an informal phrase used to say "what's up" or to ask "what happened".
While the phrase can literally be used to ask "what happened", it is frequently used as an informal greeting to ask someone how they are doing or what is currently going on, similar to the English "what's up".
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of qué (what) and pasó (the third-person singular preterite of pasar, meaning "to happen" or "to pass").
Which one should you use?
To ask "what happened?" in a formal context, you should use ¿Qué ocurrió? or ¿Qué sucedió? For other informal greetings, you might use ¿Qué onda? to mean "What's up?" or "What's going on?" or ¿Qué te cuentas? to mean "What's new?" or "What do you have to tell me?"
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Qué pasó is an informal expression. In formal situations, use ¿Qué ocurrió? or ¿Qué sucedió? instead.
Did you know?
- In many Latin American countries, particularly Mexico, you might hear the shortened version ¿Qué pasó, güero? if addressing someone with lighter skin or hair.
- The word qué shares a common ancestor with the English word 'what' and the Latin 'quid', both tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*kʷid'.
- In some Caribbean coastal regions, the phrase might be pronounced almost as a single word, with the 's' in 'pasó' being softened or dropped entirely due to local phonetic trends.
Examples in context
- ¡Hola! ¿Qué pasó, amigo?Hi! What's up, friend?
- ¿Qué pasó, cómo va todo?What's happening, how is everything going?
- Oye, ¿qué pasó?Hey, what's up?
Example conversation
Two friends meet at a park.
- Daniel¡Hola, Sofía! ¿Qué pasó?Hi, Sofía! What's up?
- SofíaNada nuevo, Daniel. ¿Y tú?Nothing new, Daniel. And you?
- DanielTodo bien por aquí.Everything is good over here.
- SofíaMe alegro mucho.I'm very glad.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries qué, CC BY-SA 4.0.
