Quick Answer
Pásale means come in or go ahead in Mexican Spanish. It is the threshold word: hosts use it to bring you inside, vendors to call you into a stall, drivers to make you move down the bus. Pásele is the usted form and the one strangers get.
- Pásale means come in, or go ahead - the word for a threshold.
- Strangers get pásele, the usted form - hosts, vendors and drivers all use it. Pásale is for friends.
- At a door it is hospitality and you should walk in. In a shop doorway it is a sales call and you can keep walking.
What it means
An invitation across a threshold. A door, a gate, a shop entrance, a line - somebody is telling you to come through, and the word does it in one syllable more than the verb needs.
It also means go ahead in the sense of take your turn. Held at a doorway with somebody else, pásele is how you let them through first, and it is the standard piece of small courtesy in an elevator or a narrow aisle.
And on public transport it means move down. ¡Pásele, pásele, hasta atrás! from a microbús driver is one of the most-heard uses of this word in CDMX, and it is neither hospitality nor a sale.
Arriving at somebody's house
Them¡Pásele! Qué bueno que vino.
Come in! Good to see you.The invitation itself. Walking in is the correct response - do not wait to be asked twice.
YouGracias. Traje un pan para el café.
Thanks. I brought some bread for the coffee.Arriving with something small is standard, and it will be waved off.
ThemNo se hubiera molestado. Siéntese donde guste.
You shouldn't have. Sit wherever you like.The waving-off is part of the ritual. Insisting is not required.
You¿Aquí está bien?
Is here okay?And the answer is almost always donde usted quiera. This is where esta es su casa arrives.
How Mexicans use it
At a door it is the whole arrival. Pásele, and then usually esta es su casa or con confianza - a host saying it expects you to walk in rather than to protest, and hesitating twice reads as declining.
In markets and shop doorways it is a sales call, delivered at volume and in usted. ¡Pásele, pásele, güerita! - and güerita there is a friendly address term based on reading as light-skinned or foreign, not an insult and not personal. It requires no answer; smiling and continuing is entirely normal.
As a courtesy it means after you. Two people at a doorway, one says pásele, and the other goes through. It is the same move as holding a door and it is expected rather than optional.
The plural is what a host uses on a group: pásenle. It arrives as everybody is still on the doorstep working out who goes first.
Examples
- Pásele, pásele, está en su casa.Come in, come in, make yourself at home.
- Pásale, ya casi está la comida.Come in, lunch is nearly ready.
- Pásele, por favor, usted primero.Go ahead, please, after you.
- Pásenle, aquí hay lugar.Come on in, there's room here.
- ¡Pásele, pásele, hasta atrás!Move down, all the way to the back!
What do you say back to pásale?
- Gracias.Thank you.And then walk in. That is the whole answer at a door
- Con permiso.Excuse me.Said as you cross the threshold. Very Mexican and always right
- No, gracias, nada más estoy viendo.No thanks, I'm just looking.To a vendor, if you stopped. If you did not stop, keep walking
- Usted primero.After you.When somebody has offered you the doorway and you want to give it back
What pásale is actually doing
- The feeling · how much of the word it is
- Welcome29%The core. A door opening and somebody bringing you through it.
- After you24%The courtesy version. Two people at a doorway, and it decides who goes first.
- Sales call18%In a market aisle, at volume, aimed at whoever is slowing down. Not personal.
- Move down18%On a microbús or at a Metrobús door. Neither hospitality nor a sale - just get further back.
- Steering12%A host moving somebody toward a chair without touching them.
How tone changes pásale
- hospitable¡Pásele, pásele!Come in, come in!
- courteousPásele, usted primero.Go ahead, after you.
- to a groupPásenle, hay lugar.Come on in, there's room.
- sales¡Pásele, pásele, güerita!Come in, come in, miss!
- on the bus¡Pásele, hasta atrás!Move down, all the way back!
Mini dialogue
Common mistake
Hesitating at a door. Pásele is not a first offer to be politely refused - it is the invitation, and the polite thing is to accept it and come in. That instinct to demur once belongs to a different ritual, the one about food.
Taking the market version personally. Pásale from a vendor is aimed at whoever is walking past, not at you specifically, and it is not rude to keep going. Answering every one of them would take an afternoon.
Don't sound gringo
three settings and they feel different: a doorway, a market stall, and a bus. all three are usted.
At a door it is hospitality. Pásele is what a host says when you arrive, usually followed by esta es su casa or con confianza, and the expected move is to walk in rather than to hesitate.
In a market it is a sales call - ¡pásele, pásele, güerita! shouted at anybody slowing down - and there it is completely normal to smile and keep walking.
On a microbús or at a Metrobús door it means move down.
Note the form: strangers get pásele, and pásale is for friends.
Where you'll hear it
- A door opening in Coyoacán and one word doing all the work of welcome
- A market aisle where four vendors say it in the time it takes to walk past three stalls
- A host steering somebody toward a chair without ever quite touching them
- A microbús driver saying it over his shoulder to eleven people who could stand to move back
Spice level
Works with anyone, anywhere.
FAQ
What does pásale mean?
Come in, or go ahead. It is the word for crossing a threshold - a door, a gate, a shop entrance.
Should I say pásale or pásele?
Pásele with anybody you would address as usted - which includes hosts, vendors and drivers talking to strangers. Pásale is for friends.
What does the -le in pásale mean?
It is the intensive dative that also gives ándale, órale and córrele - real grammar, just not pointing at anybody. It adds emphasis and a Mexican sound rather than converting an order into an invitation.
What is pase usted?
The bare, more formal version - what a reception desk, a doctor's office or a security booth says. Pásele is the warmer form of the same move.
Why does the bus driver keep saying pásele?
He means move down. ¡Pásele, pásele, hasta atrás! on a microbús is one of the most-heard uses of the word in CDMX and has nothing to do with welcome.
Should I hesitate before going in?
No. Pásele is the invitation itself, not a first offer to be politely refused. Hesitating twice reads as declining - the demur-once ritual belongs to food, not to doorways.
Why do vendors shout pásale at me?
It is a sales call, aimed at whoever is walking past rather than at you. Smiling and continuing is completely normal and not rude.
What is the difference between pásale and pásame?
Less than it looks. Pásame la sal is pass me the salt; pásale la sal is pass her the salt. Pásale only means come through when there is no object after it.
What is the plural?
Pásenle, and it is what a host uses on a group standing on the doorstep working out who goes first.
pásale vs con confianza, pásame and pase / pase usted
pásalevscon confianza
They travel together and do different jobs. Pásale gets you through the door; con confianza tells you the formality is off once you are inside. Pásele, con confianza is one move in two parts.pásalevspásame
The overlap that catches people. Pásame la sal is pass me the salt - and pásale la sal is pass HER the salt, an ordinary dative. So pásale is genuinely ambiguous, and only the missing object tells you it means come through.Page coming soonpásalevspase / pase usted
The bare form, and what you will hear at a reception desk, a doctor's office or a security booth. Pásele is the warmer version of the same thing.Page coming soonpásalevspásate
A different verb, not a variant. Pasarse is to come by or move over - pásate a la casa, pásate para allá - and it is not the doorway word.Page coming soonpásalevsadelante
The neutral, more formal version of the same invitation. Adelante works anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world; pásale is the Mexican one and it is warmer.Page coming soonpásalevsándale
Same -le ending and the same tú/usted switch. Ándale pushes somebody who has not moved; pásale invites somebody through a threshold. They overlap when a host is doing both at once.
Related words
Test yourself
Tap an answer.
A host opens the door and says 'pásele.' What do you do?
A vendor shouts '¡pásele, pásele!' as you walk past their stall. What's happening?
The one thing
pásale is the threshold word - come in, go ahead, move down the bus. strangers get pásele. at a door it's an invitation you accept; from a vendor it's a sales call you can walk past.
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