passaram

Passaram is a Portuguese verb form derived from passar. It represents the pretérito perfeito simples (simple past) for the third-person plural subject, corresponding to eles, elas, or vocês. In English, it is translated as “they passed” or, when used with you plural in contexts like “vocês passaram,” as “you passed.” The meaning depends on the construction, covering movement, time, or success.

In usage, passar has several core senses that can be expressed with passaram. They can describe physically passing by or through a place, as in Eles passaram pela ponte (They passed by the bridge). They can indicate spending time, as in Eles passaram o dia na praia (They spent the day at the beach). They can also express success in a test or selection, as in Eles passaram no exame (They passed the exam). The form is commonly used in Brazilian Portuguese and is widely understood across dialects where the third-person plural is marked similarly.

Etymologically, passar derives from Latin passare, related to passus or pasus, linked to the broader family of words about movement, crossing, or continuation. The past tense form passaram is a standard inflection for regular -ar verbs in the pretérito perfeito simples, and it coexists with the other past tenses of passar to express different temporal nuances.

See also: passar, Portuguese verb conjugation, pretérito perfeito simples.