"the past" in seven languages
Meaningthe past
Spanish
pasado
/paˈsado/
masc.inherited
French
passé
/pase/
masc.inherited
Italian
passato
/pasˈsato/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
passado
/paˈsadu/
masc.inherited
Romanian
trecut
/treˈkut/
neut.other source · Romanian trece 'to pass', from Latin TRAICERE 'to cross over'
Catalan
passat
/pəˈsat/
masc.inherited
English
past
/pæst/
from Latin/French · variant spelling of passed, from pass (Old French passer)
English → Italianthe pastpassatoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
*PASSĀTUM‘gone by (participle of *PASSĀRE 'to step, pass', from PASSUS 'step')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
All four call the past 'what has passed'. The participle ending shows the classic split: Italian keeps -ato, Spanish softens t to d (-ado), French wears it down to -é.
English relatives: pass, passage, passenger, passport
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esNo pienses en el pasado.
- frNe pense pas au passé.
- itNon pensare al passato.
- ptNão pense no passado.
- roNu te gândi la trecut.
- caNo pensis en el passat.
- enDon't think about the past.