Questions about "pass way"
Hi guys, I improve my listening by watching videos about many kinds of diseases and this time I have been watching a video about Alzheimer disease (AD). I want to know what "pass way" means in this phrase:"My grandmother lived with AD for 14 years before she passed way". I guess it means to die, but I want to know in which cases I can use this, I need more explanation about it, is it common? Thanks a lot.
7 Answers
What Brady said.
Sometimes, for some people, the word ´died´ is just a bit too direct and painful, so this is a softer way of saying it.
As Brady said, it is very common, and many people go on saying it for years.
In fact, now that I think about it, I´m one of them. I was just telling someone last week that my mother passed away a bit over 2 years ago.
One will sometimes , hear a slight variation, as follows:
My mother has passed on. Her father has passed on. etc etc.
It´s shorthand for saying someone has passed on through life, and ostensibly, continued to whatever destination. Not quite as common as passed away, but still pretty common, especially among older people, so it´s worth knowing about so you can recognize it.
Hope that helps. And so yes, you did already understand perfectly. Good job!
So, is there an equivalent way of referring to the dead in Spanish?
p.s. When we want to soften ¨the dead¨ we say ¨the deceased¨
Salud!
"to pass away" means to die.
It's very common, it's a more polite way of saying to die. Many people can find using the verb to die too strong in some circumstances, and to pass away is a more gentle way of expressing it.
My dog passed away 3 years ago= My dog died 3 years ago.
I thought about it some more. I´m fairly sure we only use it in the past tense.
She passed away two years ago. He´s already passed on.
But not for the present or future. I don´t think any of us would ever say either:
He is bleeding heavily as is about to pass on.
Or.
She´s very ill and will probably pass on within a week.
Passed On is for the Past.
Annie had a good post on that link. "To lose someone" is when someone (usually close to you like a friend or a relative) dies.
We lost him that evening=He passed away that evening==He died that evening.
Just food for thought 
American culture, as I have come to assimilate to during the many years I have been blessed with living in the US, is very reserved about death. People pass away, are deceased or are extinct before anyone dare say "They are dead." It's a hard concept to come to grips with in this wonderful culture I have made my own.
La cultura estadounidense, a la cual me he asimilado durante los muchos años que he vivido en esta hermosa tierra, es muy reservada cuando se trata de la muerte. La gente pasa a otra existencia, decede o se extingue antes de que admitan que ha muerto. Es un concepto muy difícil de procesar en esta cultura que he abrazado con tanta intensidad como la mía propia.
Last March we had a thread on euphemisms in which more expressions for death and dying are to be found, amongst others ; - ) It is well worth a look.
Yes, it is very common. English people can talk openly about sex, birth and their bodily functions, but mention death and nobody will talk to you. Youmust say: passed away, left us, we lost her, she is gone, when she went, sadly she is no more ,or, sadly, she is no longer with us.. etc.
About animals we say : My dog was put down yesterday. This means the vet killed it with a fatal injection, but you must never say that. If it died by itself you can say ' died' about animals.
If a horse was put down it means it was shot. If it died from a twisted gut, you can say 'died'.
Hunted animals are ''brought down'.
In wildlife films the prey is also usually brought down, rather than plain killed which is too brutal for sensitive English ears. The lions brought the gazelle down. However, if a person has been murdered, it's quite ok to say so. They were strangled, posioned or axed to death or had their heads blasted off by a shotgun. This is quite ok to mention in normal conversation. To commit suicide is normally referred to as ' to take one's own life'.
