¿Qué pasa? o ¿Qué pasó?

Question

I have read that qué pasa has fallen out of common usage with qué pasó being used more commonly now, especially with younger people, any native speakers know if this is true, or which is more popular?

He leído que ‘que pasa’ no es tan común como ‘que pasó’ hoy en día, especialmente con la gente joven, ¿hay un hablante nativo de España que sabe si es verdad?

Great question Lozz1, welcome to the forum. =] - DJ_Huero, May 3, 2012

Answer 1

I use "qué pasa" as more of a greeting. "What's happening?" or "What's going on?"

It's a super informal way to greet a friend. But, you can also ask someone this if they look sad or hurt, and you want to know why. In that situation, it is less of a greeting and more of a general concern for the person's wellbeing.

"Qué pasó" I use more in the literal sense. I use it to literally ask what happened. If there are ambulances outside of my window and a huge crowd of onlookers, I will ask my roommate "¿Qué pasó?" "What happened?"

I wouldn't use the latter as a greeting, because I think it would sound odd.

thanks, it's just i read it in this like colloquial phrase book that only tourists and old people tend to say qué pasa, whereas qué pasó is used more of like a chilled greeting like whats up, - Lozz1, May 3, 2012

Thank you missy , that gives me a better understanding of their usage and meaning. - ray76, May 3, 2012

Answer 2

Technically ¿Qué pasó? is in the preterite tense and translates as "what happened". However, as you pointed out, in certain countries ¿Qué pasó? is much more commonly used colloquially to mean ¿Qué pasa?, especially by young people. You may not want to confirm your answer with someone from Spain though, because no Spaniards I know would ever use it this way. Talk to someone from México or Puerto Rico and they can confirm that these two expressions are used as a greeting with about the same frequency.

I agree. My Spanish is Spain Spanish, and they never greet anyone with "Qué pasó" - missy8888, May 3, 2012

So I guess it depends where this user plans on going in order to know whether or not they should use it! - missy8888, May 3, 2012