Spanish Verbs of Happening

Spanish has at least three verbs that can mean to happen, and all three of them — pasar, ocurrir and suceder — are fairly common. Although pasar is the most common and can be used in both formal and informal contexts, many times the three verbs are interchangeable. Pasar Uses and Examples As indicated in the lesson on pasar, pasar has a variety of meanings, including to pass in various senses. Here are some examples of where it can be translated as to happen:  ¿Quà © ha pasado con el robo de datos en PlayStation Network? What has happened with the data theft on the PlayStation network?Lo que pasà ³, pasà ³. What happened, happened.Yo no sà © lo que me pasà ³. I dont know what happened to me.Tememos lo que pasarà ¡ a nuestro alrededor. We fear what will be happening to our vicinity.Es el lugar donde nunca pasa en tiempo. Its the place where nothing happens on time. OcurrirUses and Examples Ocurrir is a cognate of the English to occur and has much the same meaning, although the synonym to happen is a more common translation. Some examples: Esto nunca ocurrirà ¡. This will never happen.Espero que ocurra lo que les dice el horà ³scopo de hoy. I hope what todays horoscope is telling you happens. ¿Quà © ocurrià ³ en el accidente del Challenger? What happened in the Challenger accident?Lo mejor que puede ocurrir es que tengo mi dà ­a en corte. The best that can happen is that I have my day in court.Me ocurrià ³ un problema similar. A similar problem happened to me. SucederUses and Examples Suceder also is often used to mean to happen. Note that while suceder is related to the English verb to succeed, it never has the meaning of to have success, although it can mean succeed in the sense of to take the place of as in suceder al trono, to succeed to the throne. Here are some examples of where it means happen: It Happened One Night es conocida en castellano como Sucedià ³ una noche. It Happened One Night is known in Spanish as Sucedià ³ una noche.No debo pensar que a mi nunca me sucederà ¡ algo malo. I shouldnt think that nothing bad will ever happen to me.Hay diez cosas que seguro que nos sucedieron a todos. There are 10 things Im sure have happened to all of us. ¿Quà © sucede con Fernando? Whats happening with Fernando?En el camino de la vida, muchas cosas suceden. On the road of life, many things happen. Etymology Pasar comes from the Latin verb passare, to pass. Occurir is from the Latin occurrere, to occur. In addition to the meaning of to happen, in the reflexive form ocurrirse can, like occur, also mean to bring to mind: Nunca se me ocurrià ³ que iba a ser actor. It never occurred to me that I was going to become an actor. Suceder comes from the Latin succedere, to follow or to take the place of. Suceder has come to mean to happen in the same way that English speakers give the same meaning to to take place. The shift in English of succeed to mean having success occurred after the verbs meaning was established in Spanish.