¿Qué pasa?
/ˈke ˈpasa/word by word
The English phrase "yo, what's good?" can be translated into Spanish as ¿Qué pasa?
¿Qué pasa? is an informal way to greet someone, translating to "What's up?" or "What's happening?"
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, the phrase means "What is happening?" or "What passes?"
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
¿Qué pasa? is primarily an informal way to say "What's up?" or "What's going on?" For more specific times of day, you can use Buenos días in the morning or Buenas noches in the evening or at night.
When do people say it?
When someone asks you ¿Qué pasa?, a common response if nothing specific is happening is Nada (Nothing).
Did you know?
- If you are in Spain, you might hear friends use ¿Qué pasa, tío? as a single greeting, where tío literally means 'uncle' but functions like 'dude'.
- The word pasa comes from the same Latin root as the word for 'raisin', which was originally a 'spread grape'.
- In Mexico, you can use the word qué in many slang phrases like ¿Qué onda?, which literally translates to 'What wave?'
Sources
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (qué, pasa) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries pasa, qué, CC BY-SA 4.0.
