These two words are often confused. Just like the other words we’ve looked at this week, one of the words is a verb and the other is a noun.
Passed is a verb. Passed is the past tense form of the verb pass.
We know that regular verbs in English add an -ed onto a verb to make it past tense.
The verb pass becomes passed when we use the past tense. You can see the verb pass inside the word passed.
Today I pass papers out in class.
Yesterday I passed papers out in class.
I pass a red car on the highway every day.
Yesterday I passed a red Jeep.
Past can be an adverb, an adjective, a preposition, or a noun – but never a verb.
Past as an adverb:
I saw him walk past.
Past describes how he walked – he walked past.
Past as an adjective:
You have been late twice in the past week.
Past tells which week – the past week.
Past as a preposition:
It’s already past your bedtime.
Past your bedtime is a prepositional phrase beginning with the preposition past.
Past as a noun:
I love to read books that are set in the past.
Past is a noun being used as the object of the preposition.
The easiest way to keep these two words straight is to remember that passed is a verb – past tense of pass. If you aren’t trying to show action with a form of the verb pass, then you should probably use past. Past can be an adverb, an adjective, a preposition, and a noun.