Pass through means to travel or walk through a place without stopping there, or to go through something, as light, water or air does. The phrase I'm just passing through means you are only in a place briefly, on your way somewhere else.
Want to use pass through in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
pass through + town/country/tunnel; be just passing through (on the way to + place); light/water/air + pass through + something
- On our road trip, we passed through three countries in a single day.
- The curtains are thin, so a lot of light passes through them in the morning.
What changed
First versionOur bus passed across a long tunnel under the mountains.
RevisionOur bus passed through a long tunnel under the mountains.
Across and through both describe getting from one side to the other, but in different ways. Across means over a surface, from one edge to the other: across the bridge, across the square. Through means inside something, from one end to the other: through a tunnel, a forest, a crowd. The bus travels inside the tunnel, so through is needed.
Pass through describes moving through a place: We passed through Lyon on the way to the Alps. For living through difficulties or checking documents carefully, English uses go through: She went through a hard year. Both phrases are about getting through something, so they are easy to confuse.
Your turn
I don't live in Vienna; I'm just ___ on my way to Budapest.
Show the answer
passing through — I'm just passing through is a fixed phrase for being in a place only on your way somewhere else. Going through is not used like this: go through usually needs an object (go through customs, go through a hard time), and without one it means something else, for example that a deal is completed: The deal went through.
Describe a trip when you travelled through another town or country. Say which place you passed through and why you did not stop.
On our way to Italy, we passed through Switzerland without stopping because we wanted to reach Milan before dark.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.