Olá pessoal! In this lesson, I bring you yet another sentence structure that doesn’t translate into English neatly.
If you want to describe starting to do something as a new situation, habit or way of doing things in European Portuguese, you’ll often come across:
passar a + infinitive
For example:
Passei a estudar português todos os dias.
I started studying Portuguese every day.
Ela passou a trabalhar em casa.
She started working from home.
Depois de se mudar para Lisboa, passou a andar de metro.
After moving to Lisbon, she started taking the metro.
Passar a + Infinitive
The verb passar is conjugated, while the second verb remains in the infinitive:
passar a + infinitive
So:
- passei a trabalhar – I started working
- passou a fazer – he/she started doing/making
- passámos a viver – we started living
- passaram a usar – they started using
The important thing to understand is that passar a usually presents a change from one situation to another.
What does “passar a” mean?
Passar a + infinitive describes a new habit that begins from a certain point onwards.
This means there is often an old situation, a change, and then a new situation. For example:
Depois de ter um filho, passou a trabalhar menos.
After having a child, she started working less.
The sentence isn’t simply telling us that she began working less one particular time. It presents working less as her new situation. Another example:
Depois de me mudar para Portugal, passei a estudar português todos os dias.
After moving to Portugal, I started studying Portuguese every day.
Before the move, I didn’t have this routine. After the move, studying Portuguese every day became part of my new routine.
This is why passar a is particularly useful when talking about changes in habits, routines, circumstances and situations.
Passar a can describe bigger changes too
It isn’t only used for personal habits. Passar a + infinitive can also describe a change in a person’s role, a company’s function, or a wider situation. For example:
A empresa passou a ser responsável pelo projeto.
The company became responsible for the project.
O edifício passou a funcionar como museu.
The building began to function as a museum.
And when talking about history:
Em 1910, Portugal passou a ser uma República.
In 1910, Portugal became a republic.
Here, passar a describes a transition from one state to another.
I used this last example in this video lesson:
Passar a vs Começar a
You may already know omeçar a + infinitive, which means to start doing something.
You can sometimes use começar a and passar a in similar sentences, but the emphasis is different.
Começar a focuses on the beginning of an action.
Passar a focuses more on the change to a new situation or pattern.
For example:
Comecei a trabalhar em casa.
I started working from home.
Passei a trabalhar em casa.
I started working from home / From then on, I worked from home.
There is more to this distinction, so if you want to look at começar a vs passar a in more detail, I have a separate lesson dedicated to the two structures.
Passar a + a partir de
Because passar a often describes something that happens from a particular point onwards, it is very common to see it with:
a partir de – from a certain point onwards
For example:
A partir de agora, vou passar a trabalhar de casa.
From now on, I’m going to start working from home.
A partir do próximo ano, vamos passar a pagar mais impostos.
From next year onwards, we will start paying more taxes.
A partir daquele momento, passaram a viver juntos.
From that moment onwards, they started living together.
The expression a partir de makes that idea of a new situation particularly clear.
Passar a and deixar de
When we’re talking about changes, passar a and deixar de can work very naturally together.
deixar de + infinitive means to stop doing something / to no longer do something.
passar a + infinitive describes starting to do something as a new situation or pattern.
For example:
Deixei de trabalhar no escritório e passei a trabalhar em casa.
I stopped working in the office and started working from home.
Or:
Antes, ia de carro para o trabalho. Depois, deixei de usar o carro e passei a ir de bicicleta.
Before, I went to work by car. Then, I stopped using the car and started cycling.
These two structures are particularly useful together when talking about changes in our lives and routines.
A quick grammar note
As with other verb constructions, passar changes according to the tense and subject.
Passo a trabalhar de casa.
I start working from home.
Passei a trabalhar de casa.
I started working from home.
Passou a trabalhar de casa.
He/she started working from home.
Passámos a trabalhar de casa.
We started working from home.
Vou passar a trabalhar de casa.
I’m going to start working from home.
The second verb remains in the infinitive.
In short
passar a + infinitive is a useful European Portuguese structure for describing a change to a new situation, habit or pattern.
Passei a estudar português todos os dias.
I started studying Portuguese every day.
Ela passou a trabalhar em casa.
She started working from home.
A empresa passou a ser responsável pelo projeto.
The company became responsible for the project.
The key idea is:
old situation → change → new situation
Once you start noticing passar a + infinitive in conversations, stories and written Portuguese, you’ll see how useful it is for describing the way things change over time.
What new habit or routine could you describe with passar a + infinitive?