Pasado

[nattym82]

Tried translating this sentence word for word, then decided that was a terrible idea.
" ha pasado algo muy gordo "
I think what tripped me up was 'pasado'
when looked up literally it translated to 'has past something very fat'
you can imagine my confusion here..... Decided that the person in my book was angry because she was fat or something?...?
but when i looked on google it translated to " something big has happened " wow that changes everything!
so my confusion i think lies with the word pasado....any clarifying words of wisdom would certainly help

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by nattym82

Tried translating this sentence word for word, then decided that was a terrible idea.
" ha pasado algo muy gordo "
I think what tripped me up was 'pasado'
when looked up literally it translated to 'has past something very fat'
you can imagine my confusion here..... Decided that the person in my book was angry because she was fat or something?...?
but when i looked on google it translated to " something big has happened " wow that changes everything!
so my confusion i think lies with the word pasado....any clarifying words of wisdom would certainly help

The verb "pasar" has more than one possible meaning. A common one is "to occur/happen". One common casual greeting in some places is "¿Qué pasa?" = "What's up/what's happening?"

The word "gordo" has some slang uses in addition to its common meaning of "fat".

[nattym82]

ooo thankyou , thought that may be the case, very interesting how flexible the words are and how many different meanings one word may have....very confusing

[caliber1]

My best guess (not that it's correct) is that it means, "he had a good time". If it's slang.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by nattym82

ooo thankyou , thought that may be the case, very interesting how flexible the words are and how many different meanings one word may have....very confusing

Yes, especially with languages that have as many first- and second-language speakers as English and Spanish: there's a LOT of regional variation in usage, plus the the common habit of overloading the most-common words with a variety of meanings. Often it's great fun trying to learn when and how to distinguish each of the meanings, and sometimes it's amusingly embarrassing to discover that what we thought we said wasn't how we were understood!

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by nattym82

ooo thankyou , thought that may be the case, very interesting how flexible the words are and how many different meanings one word may have....very confusing

The same as English. What's the difference with "something huge happened"? Could be the course or events really any "huge" or any "fat"?

Originally Posted by caliber1

My best guess (not that it's correct) is that it means, "he had a good time". If it's slang.

Ha pasado algo muy gordo ---> Something huge happened (recently)
La ha pasado gorda ---> He/she was in 'real' trouble (recently)
La ha pasado un poco gorda ---> He/she was in some trouble (recently)

pasar ---> *****, happen/occur, *****, ****
pasarla --->enjoy or suffer some period, event or circumstance

Have you enjoyed it? ----> ¿La pasaste bien? (when "it" is just a period or the whole event)
Have you enjoyed it? ----> ¿La/Lo disfrutaste/gozaste? (when "it" is something specific like food or music)