dar Preterite Conjugation
dar — to give
The preterite of dar is highly irregular and short: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron.
dar Preterite Forms
When to Use the Preterite
Use the preterite to describe a specific time you gave something, like a gift or a piece of advice, where the action is clearly finished.
Notes on dar in the Preterite
Dar is unusual in the preterite because it uses -er/-ir endings even though it is an -ar verb. Also, note that 'di' and 'dio' do not have accent marks because they are single-syllable words.
Example Sentences
Le di las llaves a mi hermano.
I gave the keys to my brother.
yo
¿Me diste el número equivocado?
Did you give me the wrong number?
tú
Nos dieron una sorpresa increíble.
They gave us an incredible surprise.
ellos/ellas/ustedes
El profesor nos dio más tiempo.
The teacher gave us more time.
él/ella/usted
Common Mistakes
Mistake: Writing 'dió' or 'dí' with an accent mark.
Correct: The correct forms are 'dio' and 'di' without accents.
Why: In Spanish, one-syllable words generally don't take accents unless they need to be distinguished from a twin word (like 'si' vs 'sí').
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Related Tenses
Present
yo: doy
Dar is mostly regular except for the 'yo' form, which is 'doy'.
Imperfect
yo: daba
The imperfect of dar is regular: daba, dabas, daba, dábamos, dabais, daban.
Future
yo: daré
The future of dar is completely regular: daré, darás, dará, daremos, daréis, darán.
Conditional
yo: daría
The conditional of dar is regular: daría, darías, daría, daríamos, daríais, darían.
Present Subjunctive
yo: dé
The present subjunctive of dar is dé, des, dé, demos, deis, den.
Imperfect Subjunctive
yo: diera
The imperfect subjunctive of dar uses the stem 'die-': diera, dieras, diera, diéramos, dierais, dieran.
Affirmative Imperative
yo: da
The imperative of dar is: da (tú), dé (usted), demos (nosotros), dad (vosotros), den (ustedes).
Negative Imperative
yo: no des
Negative commands use 'no' + present subjunctive: no des, no dé, no demos, no deis, no den.