Dar (to give) · All tenses

Spanish has a small group of verbs whose yo form ends in '-oy': doy (dar), voy (ir), soy (ser), estoy (estar). The '-y' is a leftover from an older Spanish ending that attached to certain monosyllabic verbs to avoid an awkward single-vowel yo form. Without it, 'do' would clash with the musical note 'do' and feel too short to mark a verb.

'Me da igual' literally means 'it gives me equal' and is used to say 'it's all the same to me' or 'I don't mind' (in a neutral, not rude, sense). Spanish has dozens of these 'dar + noun' idioms: 'me da miedo' (it scares me), 'me da pena' (it makes me sad), 'me da rabia' (it makes me angry). The subject is the thing causing the feeling, not the person feeling it.

The preterite of dar is: yo di, tú diste, él/ella/usted dio, nosotros/as dimos, vosotros/as disteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes dieron. These are the regular -er/-ir preterite endings — unusual for an -ar verb. Note that 'dio' carries no written accent (the 2010 RAE reform removed accents from single-syllable preterites).

Dar is the only -ar verb that takes -er/-ir preterite endings. The reason is historical: dar comes from Latin 'dare', which already had irregular preterite forms (dedi, dedisti, dedit). When Old Spanish regularized verb endings, dar kept its short, -er-shaped preterite to avoid awkward forms like 'daé' or 'daó'. The result looks identical in shape to the preterite of ver (vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron) — and the two are often taught together.

Use the preterite 'di' for a specific completed giving: 'Ayer le di un regalo' (Yesterday I gave him a gift). Use the imperfect 'daba' for habitual or ongoing past giving: 'Cuando era niño, mi abuela me daba caramelos' (As a child, my grandmother used to give me candy). Preterite = one-time event; imperfect = repeated or background action.

Dar follows the regular -ar imperfect pattern: yo daba, tú dabas, él/ella/usted daba, nosotros/as dábamos, vosotros/as dabais, ellos/ellas/ustedes daban. Note the accent on 'dábamos' — the only form with a written tilde.

Use 'daba' for habitual or repeated past giving: 'Cada Navidad, mi tío me daba dinero' (Every Christmas, my uncle used to give me money). Use 'di' for a single completed act: 'En su cumpleaños, le di un libro' (For his birthday, I gave him a book). Background vs foreground — that's the imperfect-vs-preterite contrast in one sentence.

Spanish imperfect endings (-aba for -ar verbs, -ía for -er/-ir verbs) are phonetically simple and almost universally regular — only ser (era), ir (iba), and ver (veía) break the pattern. Dar's irregularities cluster in the preterite (di, dio) and present (doy), but the imperfect 'daba' rides the smooth -aba pattern without any change.

The present subjunctive of dar is: yo dé, tú des, él/ella/usted dé, nosotros/as demos, vosotros/as deis, ellos/ellas/ustedes den. The yo and él forms carry a written accent ('dé') to distinguish them from the preposition 'de' — this is a diacritic accent, not a stress accent.

Spanish uses a 'tilde diacrítica' (diacritic accent) to distinguish words that would otherwise be spelled identically. 'Dé' (give — subjunctive of dar) carries an accent to differentiate it from the preposition 'de' (of, from). Other diacritic-accent pairs follow the same rule: sí/si, tú/tu, él/el, más/mas, sé/se. The pronunciation is identical — the accent exists purely for written clarity.

Use it after triggers of doubt, emotion, will, or impersonal expressions: 'Espero que me dé tiempo' (I hope it gives me time), 'Dudo que te den el premio' (I doubt they'll give you the prize), 'Es necesario que demos un paso' (It's necessary that we take a step). Also in indirect commands: 'Que se lo dé ella' (Let her give it to him).

The future of dar is regular: yo daré, tú darás, él/ella/usted dará, nosotros/as daremos, vosotros/as daréis, ellos/ellas/ustedes darán. Despite dar being irregular in the present and preterite, the future uses the full infinitive 'dar-' as the stem — same predictable pattern as hablar (hablaré) or estudiar (estudiaré).

Both are correct future expressions. 'Daré' (simple future) feels slightly more formal or further in time. 'Voy a dar' (going-to future) is more conversational and tends to imply nearer-term plans. The simple future also expresses conjecture: 'Le darán el premio, supongo' = 'They'll probably give him the prize' — speculation about a likely outcome.

About 12 Spanish verbs developed contracted future stems for phonetic economy (haré, diré, tendré, pondré, etc.), but only when the full infinitive would have been awkward to repeat. Dar is only three letters long — there was nothing to contract. The same applies to ir (iré), estar (estaré), and ver (veré): short infinitives stay short in the future.