Spanish Verb – Dar Conjugation

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Kéllyta Quijada – Spanish Tutor. “Spanish Verb – Dar Conjugation.” Lingua Linkup, 16 Sep. 2022, lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-dar-conjugation.

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Kéllyta Quijada – Spanish Tutor. “Spanish Verb – Dar Conjugation.” Lingua Linkup, September 16, 2022. https://lingualinkup.com/spanish-verb-dar-conjugation/.

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Me diste gato por liebre*: Conjugation of the verb Dar

What if I told you that today we are going to discuss a verb that has more than fifty meanings? According to the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE, for its Spanish acronym), it has exactly fifty-four meanings, not counting its more colloquial uses! JFR, our closest equivalent to the RAE is the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (but without the dystopian movie villain vibe that the RAE has).

I know you have a great desire to see the conjugations of this verb (who doesn’t enjoy learning the pluperfect of a verb?) and we’ll get there soon, but first let’s look at some of the uses we can give to this small, but great, verb.

Less than 54 meanings

Perhaps someday we will dedicate an entire blog to review the 54 meanings, and other derived expressions, of the verb Dar. For today, let’s look at just a few of the most common ones, the ones without which you can’t say: “I master this verb”.

Generally, and most commonly, this verb means to give/offer something, whose equivalent in English would be the verb “to give”, for example: “Te doy un abrazo si admites que perdiste” (I give you a hug if you admit that you lost). But in other cases, for example, when making an order in the form of a question, such as: “¿Me da un Summer Berry Panna Cotta Frappuccino, por favor?” (yup, that’s a thing in Starbucks Singapore). The Spanish verb Dar becomes a “May/Can I have a Summer Berry Panna Cotta Frappuccino, please?”.

The reason why the verb Dar has so many meanings in the first place comes from thinking about who (or what) can give something to someone else, some examples are: 

• A tree bears its fruits. / Un árbol da frutos.
• A chicken produces eggs. / Una gallina da huevos.
• Your favorite artist (Bad Bunny <3) can throw a concert. / Bad Bunny puede dar un concierto.

 And if that wasn’t enough, on the other hand, emotions also “Dan”, for example: Esa película me da miedo (That movie scares me) or Los domingos me da flojera trabajar (On Sundays I am lazy to work).

Dar, an irregularity

If you saw our previous article on the verb Estar (and if not, I invite you to visit it here), you may remember how we compared both verbs and their irregularities. In case you have arrived here before, or don’t remember, I will tell you how the verbs Dar, Ir and Estar share an irregularity that usually falls on the Yo (first-person singular).

Verbals, sentence modifiers

With the verb Dar, as with other verbs, we also find verbals that derive from the original verb. The best part of these words is that you can use them in the same way, without conjugation, regardless of number, person, tense or any of those things we will see soon.

Let’s conjugate!

Partly because of the irregularity of the verb, and also because of the changeability of Spanish, learning the conjugations of the verb Dar can be somewhat complex at first glance. Comparing the eternal “give” in English, regardless of the person, to “Doy, Das, Dan, etc.”, only in the present simple indicative mood, can inspire respect. But if you look at it in a practical way, with many examples, things become simpler. Let’s start by reading a text to see how you might use the verb and its conjugations. When you have seen all the conjugations, go back and try to better understand why it is used in each context!

Hoy es un día muy especial para mí, me han dado el premio especial al mérito en mi graduación. Decidir entrar a la Escuela de Medicina no fue sencillo, a pesar de todos los consejos que mi padre me daba con sus años de carrera como doctor. Cuando me aceptaron, debo admitir que me dio miedo. Habría dado lo que sea por retratar la sonrisa de orgullo de mis padres. Ahora que oficialmente soy Doctora, sé que el camino acaba de iniciar, pero también sé que daré lo mejor de mí para ser la mejor.

Dar Conjugation: Indicative Mood

The indicative mood is known to be: a) the most common and b) the mood to talk about facts and things from objectivity. As you may already know at this point, 2 of the 3 modes have a simple form (only the verb) and a compound form (adding the verb Haber), shall we start?

Simple Tenses of the Indicative Mood

Examples:

Te daré una galleta si te portas bien (I’ll give you a cookie if you behave yourself).

Ustedes dan demasiado de sí mismos (You give too much of yourselves).

Compound Tenses of the Indicative Mood

Examples:

Me han dado por sentado (I have been taken for granted).

Si no ganas, igual habrás dado todo de tí (If you don’t win, you will still have given it your all).

Estar Conjugation: Subjunctive Mood

Remember how I told you that the irregularity of the verb Dar usually falls on the Yo? Now is the time to forget it (lol, JK!). In the subjunctive mode things change a bit and it’s the present simple in all its persons that suffers an irregularity, let’s see!

Simple Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

Examples

Si te diera un beso, ¿me rechazarías? (If I gave you a kiss, would you refuse me?).

No permitas que ellos te den alcohol en la fiesta (Don’t let them give you alcohol at the party).

Compound Tenses of the Subjunctive Mood

Examples:

No lo dijeron con palabras, pero su actitud me dijo que hubieran dado más dinero (They didn’t say it in words, but their attitude told me they would have given more money).

Hayamos dado la orden o no, ustedes no podian salir (Whether we gave the order or not, you could not leave).

Estar Conjugation: Imperative Mood

Last but not least, the verb Dar can be conjugated specifically to give orders, how? In the affirmative or negative form for the persons Tú, Nosotros and Ustedes! Here it is…

Imperative Mood’s Conjugations

Examples:

Da más y quizás recibas más (Give more and you may receive more).

No demos nuestras cosas sin pensarlo primero (Let’s not give our things without thinking about it first).

A bit of practice

The more you put into practice what you learned today, the easier it will become to remember each conjugation and its specific uses. How about starting by filling in the blanks in the following sentences?

1. No le _______ importancia a su opinión, es un trol (Don’t give importance to his opinion, he is a troll.)

2. Me ________ __________ la beca para estudiar en España (I have been given a scholarship to study in Spain.)

3. El profesor ______ ___________ pistas para el examen, hay que estar atento (The professor has given clues for the exam, you have to be attentive.)

4. Hay que _______ una fecha para la boda (A date must be given for the wedding.)

5. Para muchos, usar traje para el trabajo _______ dignidad (For many, wearing a suit to work gives dignity.)

6. No me _______ ________ razones suficientes para convencerme (You have not given me enough reasons to convince me.)

7. Al morir mi abuela, ________ todas sus riquezas a la caridad (When my grandmother died, she gave all her wealth to charity.)

8. La vida te _________ muchas sorpresas; algunas, buenas; otras, no tanto (Life will give you many surprises; some good, some not so good.)

9. Héctor ____ _______ helado a sus sobrinos, pero no se comieron la comida (Hector would have given ice cream to his nephews, but they didn’t eat the food.)

10. Por sus años de servicio, se le __________ unas vacaciones pagas (For his years of service, he was given a paid vacation.)

The answers

Tell me, how did you feel about this verb? Some are easier than others, but I’m sure you will manage to master them all as you are mastering this one today. Let’s check the answers from our practice!

1. Demos

2. Han dado

3. Ha dado

4. Dar

5. Da

6. Has dado

7. Dio

8. Dará

9. Habría dado

10. Dieron

*Note: If someone tells you that “le dieron gato por liebre” (lit. was given a cat for a hare) they actually told you that they were cheated and received something of lesser quality/value instead of something similar, but of better quality (something similar to “It turned out to be a pig in a poke”).

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