Passé composé

Question

In this lesson there is an example of passer in passé compose using être:

Ma tante est passée par la boulangerie...

and using avoir:

Nous avons passé une bonne semaine...

I can't see an explanation for this and I'm confused

John

Accepted Answer

Hi John,
In your first example, 
Ma tante est passée par la boulangerie = My aunt went past/by the baker's 
The verb 'passer' is intransitive, meaning it doesn't have an object following the verb and it takes 'être'.
In the second example, 
Nous avons passé une bonne semaine = We had a good week 
Passer has an object,  'une bonne semaine', it is a transitive verb and takes 'avoir'.
Hope this helps!

Answer

Look here: https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/passer-vs-se-passer-vs-se-passer-de-the-different-meanings-of-passer