Spanish Verb Guide · A2–B2
Give, Make, Cause, Take — and Much More
Dar literally means to give, but everyday Spanish uses it in many patterns that English translates very differently: me da miedo, dar un paseo, dar con la solución, no me da tiempo and darse cuenta. The fastest way to learn it is by structure and expression, not by one English translation.
The main idea
Learn dar in chunks. Depending on the pattern, it can express giving, causing a feeling, having enough time, finding something, producing a result, or realizing something with darse.
Dar is short but irregular in several high-frequency forms. The most important forms to recognize quickly are doy, the preterite di / dio / dieron, and the subjunctive dé / des / den.
| Pronoun | Present | Preterite | Imperfect | Future | Conditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yo | doy | di | daba | daré | daría |
| tú | das | diste | dabas | darás | darías |
| él / ella / Ud. | da | dio | daba | dará | daría |
| nosotros/as | damos | dimos | dábamos | daremos | daríamos |
| vosotros/as | dais | disteis | dabais | daréis | daríais |
| ellos / Uds. | dan | dieron | daban | darán | darían |
Red marks irregular forms. The entire preterite of dar is irregular.
Gerund: dando · Past participle: dado
dé, des, dé, demos, deis, den
Quiero que me des otra oportunidad.
I want you to give me another chance.
Accent alert
dé = a form of dar
de = the preposition “of / from”
Also remember: di and dio do not take an accent.
In many everyday sentences, dar combines a person receiving something with the thing that is given. The practical word order is:
Core pattern
me / te / le / nos / os / les + conjugated DAR + thing
The pronoun tells you who receives or experiences something. The noun or expression after dar tells you what is given, caused or experienced.
Everyday examples
Me das un consejo.
You give me some advice.
Te doy una oportunidad.
I give you a chance.
Le doy permiso.
I give him / her permission.
Nos dieron una respuesta.
They gave us an answer.
¿Me das un poco de agua?
Can you give me some water?
The same pattern appears beyond literal “give”
Me da miedo. It scares me.
Me da vergüenza. I'm embarrassed.
Me da pena. It makes me sad.
Me da sueño. It makes me sleepy.
Me da igual. It doesn't matter to me.
For the full pronoun system, see Spanish Pronouns.
Double pronouns with DAR
When the thing is also replaced by a pronoun, forms such as dámelo and se lo di become very common. Before lo / la / los / las, le / les changes to se.
Dámelo.
Give it to me.
Dáselo.
Give it to him / her.
Se lo di ayer.
I gave it to him / her yesterday.
Quick concept: DAR ↔ RECIBIR
Dar and recibir describe opposite sides of the same transfer: one person gives, another receives.
Yo te doy un regalo.
I give you a gift.
Tú recibes un regalo.
You receive a gift.
Le di el dinero.
I gave him / her the money.
Recibí el dinero.
I received the money.
Spanish uses dar + noun in many fixed or semi-fixed combinations. The natural English translation is not always “give”, so learn these as complete chunks.
| DAR + noun | Natural English |
|---|---|
| dar una respuesta | give an answer |
| dar un consejo | give advice |
| dar una explicación | give an explanation / explain |
| dar una oportunidad | give a chance |
| dar permiso | give permission / allow |
| dar las gracias | thank |
| dar un paseo | go for a walk |
| dar una vuelta | go for a walk / drive around |
| dar la vuelta | turn around / turn over |
| dar la mano | shake hands / give someone your hand |
| dar un abrazo | give a hug |
| dar un beso | give a kiss |
| dar una noticia | give / tell someone news |
| dar información | give / provide information |
| dar miedo | scare / frighten |
| dar vergüenza | embarrass / make someone feel embarrassed |
| dar pena | make someone sad / feel sorry |
| dar rabia | annoy / make someone angry |
| dar sueño | make someone sleepy |
Also very common
dar clase / dar clases — teach a class / teach
dar a luz — give birth
dar de comer — feed
dar una mano — lend a hand
dar un vistazo — take a look
darle vueltas a algo — keep thinking something over
darle al botón — press the button
dar por sentado — take for granted
Tengo que darte una noticia.
I have some news to tell you.
¿Me puede dar más información?
Can you give me more information?
Le di un abrazo.
I gave him / her a hug.
Spanish often uses dar where English uses be, feel, cause or make.
Me da miedo.
It scares me. / I'm afraid.
Me da vergüenza preguntar.
I'm embarrassed to ask.
Me da pena verlo así.
It makes me sad to see him like that.
Me da rabia llegar tarde.
It annoys me to arrive late.
Esta película me da sueño.
This movie makes me sleepy.
Me da igual.
It doesn't matter to me.
Dar agrees with the noun or expression that follows—not with me.
Me da miedo. → miedo is singular
Me dan miedo las arañas. → las arañas is plural
Me dan ganas de salir. → ganas is plural
Me dan escalofríos. → escalofríos is plural
An infinitive or a clause behaves as a singular idea: Me da miedo volar. This agreement pattern is similar to verbs like GUSTAR: do not make dar agree with me.
dar ganas de
to feel like / make someone want to
Me dan ganas de salir.
I feel like going out.
dar igual / dar lo mismo
not matter / be all the same
Me da igual.
It doesn't matter to me.
Me da lo mismo.
It's all the same to me.
DAR = produce / cause an effect
Este método da buenos resultados.
This method produces good results.
El coche me está dando problemas.
The car is giving me problems.
Esta película me da miedo.
This movie scares me.
Me dan ganas de irme.
I feel like leaving.
Dar con means to find something or someone, often after searching or when you finally come across what you need. Learn it as a fixed chunk.
Por fin di con la solución.
I finally found the solution.
No consigo dar con él.
I can't manage to find him.
Hemos dado con el problema.
We've found the problem.
This pattern means to consider or treat something as being in a particular state. It is different from ordinary dar = give.
dar por hecho → consider certain / take for granted
Lo doy por hecho.
I take it as certain. / Consider it settled.
dar por terminado → consider finished
Damos por terminado el trabajo.
We consider the work finished.
dar por perdido → consider lost
Lo daba por perdido.
I had considered it lost.
darse por vencido → give up / admit defeat
No te des por vencido.
Don't give up.
to be enough for / stretch far enough for
¿Crees que la comida dará para todos?
Do you think there will be enough food for everyone?
Mi sueldo no da para tanto.
My salary doesn't stretch that far.
to face, overlook or open onto
La ventana da a la calle.
The window faces the street.
La terraza da al mar.
The terrace overlooks the sea.
High-value everyday pattern
dar tiempo = to have enough time / to allow enough time
No me da tiempo.
I don't have enough time.
¿Te da tiempo?
Do you have enough time?
No me da tiempo a hacerlo.
I don't have time to do it. — a + infinitive: standard pattern
¿Te da tiempo a terminar?
Do you have time to finish?
No me da tiempo de hacerlo.
I don't have time to do it. — de + infinitive: also used
No me da tiempo para hacerlo.
I don't have time to do it. — para + infinitive: also heard
No nos dio tiempo.
We didn't have enough time.
Mañana no me va a dar tiempo.
Tomorrow I won't have enough time.
Darse is best learned through complete pronominal chunks. Its meaning often cannot be predicted from the literal idea of “give oneself”.
Learn the whole chunk
darse cuenta de
DE + noun / DE QUE + clause → to realize / notice
Me di cuenta de que era tarde.
I realized that it was late.
¿Te das cuenta de lo que dices?
Do you realize what you're saying?
Se dio cuenta de su error.
He / She realized the mistake.
Nos hemos dado cuenta de que falta algo.
We've realized that something is missing.
darse prisa
to hurry
Date prisa.
Hurry up.
Tenemos que darnos prisa.
We have to hurry.
darse por vencido/a
to give up / admit defeat
No te des por vencido.
Don't give up.
darse la vuelta
to turn around
Se dio la vuelta y se fue.
He / She turned around and left.
darse un golpe
to bump / hit oneself
Me di un golpe en la cabeza.
I hit my head.
darse un abrazo
to hug each other
Nos dimos un abrazo.
We hugged each other.
Keep the complete chunk: darse cuenta de
Me di cuenta de que era tarde. is correct. Avoid me di cuenta que...; the standard expression keeps de.
Everyday contrast phrase
DAR / DARSE
Date prisa.
Hurry up.
No hay prisa.
There's no hurry.
Contrast with TOMAR
Tómate tu tiempo.
Take your time.
Tenemos tiempo; tómate tu tiempo.
We have time; take your time.
Darse prisa is especially common in Spain. In much of Latin America, apurarse is also very common.
darse la mano
to shake hands / hold hands, depending on context
Se dieron la mano al conocerse.
They shook hands when they met.
The affirmative tú command is da. Pronouns attach to affirmative commands, but go before negative commands.
| Person | Command | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tú | da | Dame un minuto. |
| usted | dé | Deme un momento, por favor. |
| ustedes | den | Den un paso atrás. |
| vosotros/as | dad | Dadme un minuto. |
Affirmative
Dame las llaves.
Give me the keys.
Dale una oportunidad.
Give him / her a chance.
Date prisa.
Hurry up.
Démosle tiempo.
Let's give him / her time.
Negative
No me des eso.
Don't give me that.
No le des importancia.
Don't give it importance / Don't make too much of it.
No te des por vencido.
Don't give up.
No lo des por hecho.
Don't take it for granted.
Especially in many parts of Latin America, ¡Dale! can function as an informal reaction such as:
Use this as a compact revision list after studying the patterns above.