Dar

Hi again, it's my day off and Lusi the Cyclone, is hitting us with gusts and non-stop rain, so what's better than staying at home and relax? Doing so trying to explain a short but useful spanish word:

 - Dar = To give

It may look as a simple one syllabe verb but it's got lots of different usages, and is part of numerous fixed expressions. But don't  worry, since the core of its meaning remains the same in almost every context.
And the gist of "dar" is to offer, produce or give certain things,services, situations or information.

Let's refresh our minds with the conjugated forms of "dar, since it's quite irregular. Please don't try to memorize this, just use it as a reference if you can't find the meaning in any example. Sometimes you won't even need to look at these horrible tables, but just in case here they are:


Present:

 Yo doy                =    I give
 Tu das                =    You give
 Él/Ella/Eso da        =    He/She/It gives
 Nosotros damos        =    We give
 Ellos/Ellas/Esos dan  =    They give
 Ustedes dan           =    You (plural) give

Simple Past:

 Yo dí                    =    I gave
 Tu diste                 =    You gave
 Él/Ella/Eso dió          =    He/She/It gave
 Nosotros dimos           =    We gave
 Ellos/Ellas/Esos dieron  =    They gave
 Ustedes dieron           =    You (plural) gave

Future:

 Yo daré                 =    I will give
 Tu darás                =    You will give
 Él/Ella/Eso dará        =    He/She/It will give
 Nosotros daremos        =    We will give
 Ellos/Ellas/Esos darán  =    They will give
 Ustedes darán           =    You (plural) will give


It's much easier in english isn't it? Again, don't try to memorize it, it'll come over time with practice.


Dar - To give something (away).

Dar could easily mean to handle something to someone, but it can also mean to give away something for free, again, depending on context:

 - Rafael me dará su antigua computadora.
 - Rafael will give me his old computer.

 - Ayer le dí un par de libros a mi primo.
 - Yesterday I gave my cousin a couple books.

It's not very clear whether Rafael is giving me his old computer for free or he's just letting me use it for a few hours, or if I gave my cousin a couple books as a gift or just until he finishes reading them. Here we rely on the context of the situation.


Dar - To give... ?

I'll try to explain more abstract meanings of dar; they could not always be translated to "to give" but the idea of offering or giving is still there:

 - Todos estos años llenos de sacrificios por fin dieron frutos.
 - All these years filled with sacrifices finally gave fruits. (lit.)
 - All these years of sacrifices are finally worth it.

"Dar frutos" is kind of a common fixed expression which means "to obtain the results you want".

 - Ser disciplinado te dará frutos a corto y largo plazo.
 - To be disciplined will give you the results you want in short and long term.



Dar can also have the idea of making public some information, or giving a public service.

 - El rector dió un inspirador discurso a los alumnos de último año.
 - The dean gave an inspiring speech to the last year students.

 - El nuevo restaurante dará una gran fiesta de inauguración.
 - The new restaurant will give a big inauguration party.

I'm not too sure if that's how a native speaker would phrase my second example but I hope the idea is clear. As you can see, "dar" can be used to give tangible and untangible things.


Dar - To consider in a determined way.

This meaning may not be as obvious as the previous ones, but the idea is still there, in a very abstract way. It's normally followed by the particle "por" and it can be translated as "to consider". You'll see it clearly with the examples.

 - Llevaba tantos días desaparecido que lo dieron por mierto.
 - He had been lost for so many days that they gave him up for dead.

 - Doy el asunto por concluído.
 - I consider the matter settled / I regard the matter as settled.

Doing a bit of thinking, we could interpret this meaning of "dar" as giving consideration on something or someone. In a forced way, we could say that "Me doy por vencido" could be literally translated into "I consider myself defeated" or "I give up"... Unexpected eh?


I hope my explanation was clear enough, if you have any questions or suggestions for another article please make a comment, I'd be glad of answering. Thanks for reading!