passiert

Passieren is a German verb with two primary meanings. In everyday use it means “to happen” or “to occur.” It can also mean “to pass through” or “to go past,” especially in the sense of moving through a place or boundary. The sense “to pass through” is more common in literal physical movement, while “to happen” is the prevailing sense in describing events or incidents.

Etymology and related forms. Passieren is derived from the French verb passer, meaning to pass. The verb belongs to the -ieren class of German verbs and forms regular conjugations. The stem is passier-, and the endings attach as with other weak verbs. The past participle is pass iert, used with the auxiliary ist in the perfect tense.

Conjugation and use. Present tense forms: ich passiere, du passierst, er/sie/es passiert; wir passieren, ihr passiert, sie passieren. The simple past (preterite) is formed as passierte / passierten in the respective persons. The past participle is passiert, and the standard perfect tense uses ist passiert (for example: Was ist passiert?). In practice, passeren is used in the sense of events: Es passiert jeden Tag. For physical movement through a location, the sense remains “to pass through,” but more specific terms like durchqueren or passieren are often chosen with nuance.

Usage notes. Passieren is common in everyday language and often interchangeable with geschehen in many contexts, though geschehen can sound more formal or literary. The choice between pass ieren and synonyms depends on register and nuance: use pass ieren for everyday events or casual narration; use geschehen or auftreten for formal or literary description.

Translations and examples. Examples: Was ist passiert? (What happened?). Die Züge passieren den Bahnhof ohne Zwischenstopp. Er ist durch das Tor passiert. This word thus covers both eventful occurrences and physical movement, depending on context.