Irregular Present Tense Verbs - How to Use the Verb ‘Dare’ in Italian

| Fri, 03/08/2019 - 04:47
learn italian

Verbs

 

Here is the next piece in my series covering common irregular present tense verbs. Today we’ll look at the verb ‘dare’. This can often be translated as ‘to give’.

 

A quick reminder about what a verb is – it’s a doing or action word. For example, here are two present tense verbs:

 

Studio Italiano – I am studying Italian

Andiamo a Roma – We are going to Rome

 

Italian verbs are grouped into three types, -are verbs, -ere verbs and -ire verbs. At Italy Magazine we have covered these regular present tense verbs so you can read all about them. Irregular verbs, however, don’t follow one pattern so often you just have to learn irregular verbs individually. I recently covered some common irregular verbs in my language lessons, you can read about them here: ‘fare’ (to do), ‘stare’ (to be) and ‘andare’ (to go).

 

Dare in more detail

 

So back to the verb ‘dare’ – you can see the present tense of the verb in full here:

 

Io do – I give

Tu dai – You give

Lui / lei dà – He / she gives

Noi diamo – We give

Voi date – You (plural) give

Loro danno – They give

 

Here are some sentences using the verb ‘dare’:

 

Io ti do un fiore – I’m giving you a flower

Mi dai un bicchiere di vino? - Can you give me a glass of wine?

L’insegnante dà molti compiti agli studenti – The teacher gives the students a lot of homework

Lei ci dà una bella opportunità – She is giving us a great opportunity

Ti diamo la chiave – We are giving you the key

Date un baccio alla mamma? – Are you giving your mum a kiss?

I bambini mi danno dei biscotti – The children give me some biscuits

 

Idiomatic expressions

 

It’s common to use idiomatic expressions in spoken Italian. These are phrases that have a meaning which is different to the literal meaning of the words in the sentence. For example, we say ‘to give someone a hand’ which means to ‘help them’ and not literally to give them one of your very own hands! Italians use this same expression ‘dare una mano’. So, ‘shall I lend you a hand’ or ‘shall I give you a hand’ would be ‘ti do una mano?’ in Italian.

 

Here are some more idioms with ‘dare’ that you can learn and use when speaking Italian:

 

Dare un’occhiata – To take a look

Dare i numeri – to go crazy

Dare fuoco – to light (a fire)

Dare carta bianca – To give carte blanche to someone / to give free rein to someone

Dare un esame – To take an exam

Dare fastidio – To annoy / to bother

Dare ai nervi / dare sui nervi – To get on someone’s nerves

Dare alla testa – To go to one’s head

Darsi delle arie – To put on airs / To show off / To be full of oneself

Dare il cinque – To give a high five

Dare per scontato – To take something or someone for granted

Darsi per vinto – To give up