Dare (to Give) in Italian

In Brief

The Italian verb dare means “to give,” but it is also used in expressions that English translates in other ways, such as dare un esame (“to take an exam”). Its present-tense forms are do, dai, dà, diamo, date, danno. Pay special attention to dà (“he/she gives”), which has an accent to distinguish it from the preposition da (“from,” “by,” or “at”).

Overview

Dare is one of the essential Italian verbs introduced at A1. It looks like a regular verb ending in -are, but several of its present-tense forms are irregular. You therefore need to learn its six forms as a set rather than build every form from the normal -are pattern.

At its simplest, dare describes a transfer: one person gives something to another person. This often creates a sentence with three parts: a giver, the thing given, and a recipient. In Marco dà il libro a Sara, Marco is the giver, il libro is the direct object (the person or thing directly affected by the verb), and a Sara is the indirect object (the recipient, usually expressed with “to” in English).

Italian also uses dare in many fixed expressions. Italians can “give a hand,” “give advice,” “take an exam,” “be annoying,” or address someone formally with dare del Lei. Learning these expressions as complete phrases is more reliable than translating “give” word for word from English.

How It Works

Present-tense conjugation

The infinitive (the basic dictionary form) is dare. In the present indicative—the everyday tense used for facts, habits, and actions happening now—it has these forms:

Person	Italian	English
io	do	I give / am giving
tu	dai	you give / are giving (informal singular)
lui / lei / Lei	dà	he, she gives / you give (formal singular)
noi	diamo	we give / are giving
voi	date	you give / are giving (plural)
loro	danno	they give / are giving

Italian often leaves out the subject pronoun because the verb ending identifies the subject: Ti do il libro naturally means “I’ll give you the book” or “I’m giving you the book.” Use io, tu, and the other pronouns when you need emphasis or contrast: Io do il pane, tu dai l’acqua (“I’ll provide the bread; you provide the water”).

The forms diamo and date happen to match the endings of regular -are verbs, but the full paradigm is irregular. In particular, do not invent forms such as daro or daiamo.

Dà, da, and dai

The written accent in dà is grammatical, not optional:

Form	Function	Example	Meaning
dà	third-person singular of dare	Paolo dà una risposta.	Paolo gives an answer.
da	preposition	Vengo da Milano.	I come from Milan.
dai	second-person singular of dare	Mi dai il sale?	Will you pass me the salt?
dai	da + i	Torno dai miei amici.	I’m going back to my friends.

Context distinguishes the two uses of dai. In speech, Dai! is also an extremely common encouragement or reaction meaning “Come on!”, “Go on!”, or sometimes “No way!” It is historically connected with dare, but beginners can learn it as a ready-made conversational expression.

Giving something to someone

A full noun recipient normally follows a:

giver + dare + thing + a + recipient

• Giulia dà le chiavi a Paolo. — Giulia gives the keys to Paolo.
• Diamo una copia alla cliente. — We give a copy to the customer.

Here alla is the combination of a + la. The order can change for emphasis, but this pattern is a safe beginner model.

When the recipient is already known, Italian often replaces a + person with an indirect object pronoun—a short word meaning “to me,” “to you,” and so on. It normally goes before the conjugated verb:

Meaning	Pronoun	Example
to me	mi	Mi dai una mano?
to you (informal)	ti	Ti do il mio numero.
to him	gli	Gli diamo il biglietto.
to her	le	Le do la notizia.
to you (formal)	Le	Le do il documento.
to us	ci	Ci danno un tavolo.
to you (plural)	vi	Vi do un consiglio.
to them	gli	Gli danno le chiavi.

Capital Le can make formal “to you” clear in writing, although lowercase le is also found. The surrounding situation tells you whether le means “to her” or formal “to you.” Traditional formal writing may use the capital more consistently than everyday messages do.

Do not normally repeat the same recipient twice in a neutral sentence: use either Do il libro a Marta or Le do il libro. A repeated phrase can occur in speech for clarification or emphasis—A Marta le do il libro—but it is not the simplest A1 pattern.

Common expressions with dare

In many phrases, the natural English verb is not “give.” Treat the whole expression as one vocabulary unit.

Italian expression	Natural English meaning	Example
dare una mano	to give a hand, help	Mi dai una mano?
dare un consiglio	to give advice	Ti do un consiglio.
dare un’occhiata	to take a look	Do un’occhiata al menu.
dare un esame	to take/sit an exam	Dà un esame domani.
dare fastidio	to bother, annoy	Il rumore mi dà fastidio.
dare ragione a qualcuno	to agree with someone; say they are right	Do ragione a Marta.
dare torto a qualcuno	to say someone is wrong	Non ti do torto.
dare del tu	to address someone informally	Possiamo darci del tu?
dare del Lei	to address someone formally	Le diamo del Lei.
dare appuntamento	to arrange to meet / give an appointment	Il medico mi dà appuntamento per lunedì.

Notice the structure of dare fastidio: the annoying thing is the grammatical subject. Il rumore mi dà fastidio is literally close to “The noise gives annoyance to me,” but natural English says “The noise bothers me.” This reversal often causes mistakes when English speakers build an Italian sentence directly from “I am bothered by...”.

Examples in Context

Italian	English	Note
Ti do il libro dopo cena.	I’ll give you the book after dinner.	Ti marks the recipient.
Mi dai una mano con queste scatole?	Can you give me a hand with these boxes?	A natural request for help.
Anna dà un regalo a sua sorella.	Anna gives her sister a present.	The recipient is introduced by a.
Diamo una copia a ogni studente.	We give a copy to every student.	First-person plural.
Date sempre buoni consigli.	You always give good advice.	Plural you.
I nonni danno dei biscotti ai bambini.	The grandparents give the children some cookies.	Ai combines a + i.
Domani Luca dà un esame di storia.	Luca is taking a history exam tomorrow.	Italian uses dare, not the literal English verb.
Questo rumore mi dà fastidio.	This noise bothers me.	The noise is the subject.
Do un’occhiata al messaggio e ti rispondo.	I’ll take a look at the message and reply to you.	Common everyday expression.
Hai ragione: questa volta ti do ragione.	You’re right: this time I agree with you.	Literally, “I give you reason.”
Possiamo darci del tu?	Can we use informal “tu” with each other?	Reciprocal form used when agreeing on address.
Con la direttrice, le diamo del Lei.	We address the director formally.	Le refers to the woman addressed.
Dai, andiamo!	Come on, let’s go!	Fixed conversational use of dai.
Il professore ci dà molti esercizi.	The teacher gives us many exercises.	Ci means “to us.”

Common Mistakes

Treating dare as fully regular

• Wrong: Io daro un consiglio.
• Right: Io do un consiglio.
• Why: The present tense is irregular. Learn do, dai, dà, diamo, date, danno as a sequence. Darò, with an accent, is a future form meaning “I will give,” not the present tense.

Leaving the accent off dà

• Wrong: Lei da il libro a Marco.
• Right: Lei dà il libro a Marco.
• Why: The verb form dà needs a grave accent. Unaccented da is a preposition.

Using a direct pronoun for the recipient

• Wrong: La do il libro for “I give her the book.”
• Right: Le do il libro.
• Why: The book is what is given; “her” is the recipient. Italian therefore uses the indirect pronoun le, meaning “to her.”

Putting the short pronoun after a normal conjugated verb

• Wrong: Do ti il mio numero.
• Right: Ti do il mio numero.
• Why: An unstressed object pronoun (a short pronoun attached closely to the verb) normally comes before a conjugated verb.

Translating English expressions word for word

• Wrong: Prendo un esame domani.
• Right: Do un esame domani.
• Why: English “take an exam” corresponds to Italian dare un esame in standard everyday usage. Conversely, not every English use of “give” uses dare: learn each expression in context.

Choosing the wrong subject with dare fastidio

• Wrong: Io do fastidio dal rumore for “The noise bothers me.”
• Right: Il rumore mi dà fastidio.
• Why: The source of annoyance is the subject, while the affected person is expressed with mi, ti, gli, le, ci, or vi.

Usage Notes

Requests sound natural with the present tense

Italian commonly uses a present-tense question where English may use “can,” “could,” or “will”: Mi dai il sale? is a normal way to ask “Can you pass me the salt?” Tone and context make it a request rather than a question about someone’s general ability. Add per favore when appropriate, but politeness also comes from intonation and the relationship between speakers.

Tu, Lei, and forms of address

Dare del tu a qualcuno means to use informal tu when speaking to that person; dare del Lei means to use formal Lei. A useful question when a relationship becomes less formal is Possiamo darci del tu? (“Can we use tu with each other?”). The reflexive-looking darci expresses mutual treatment here.

Whether people use tu or Lei depends on age, setting, region, workplace culture, and personal preference. There is no perfect one-to-one match with English because modern English has only one everyday “you.” If unsure in a formal Italian interaction, begin with Lei and follow the other person’s lead.

English “give” is not always dare

The overlap is broad, but not complete. For example, “give a party” is commonly fare una festa, and “give birth” is partorire or dare alla luce. On the other hand, Italian uses dare where English prefers “take,” “bother,” or “look.” The safest habit is to record the noun and verb together: dare un consiglio, not just consiglio.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following forms at A1, but they make dare easier to recognize in later reading and conversation.

The past participle (a verb form used to build compound tenses) is dato. The passato prossimo, a common past tense, uses avere: Ho dato le chiavi a Paolo (“I gave the keys to Paolo”). The future stem is dar-: Ti darò una risposta domani (“I’ll give you an answer tomorrow”).

Commands have forms worth noticing. Informal singular dai! or the shortened spelling da’! can mean “give!”: Dammi il telefono (“Give me the phone”). Here da’ + mi joins as dammi, with a doubled m. Formal dia appears in polite instructions such as Mi dia un documento, per favore (“Please give me an ID/document”). Do not confuse command da’ with present dà: the apostrophe and accent have different functions.

When both the thing and the recipient are pronouns, Italian combines them: Do il libro a Marco can become Glielo do (“I give it to him”). In glielo, glie- represents the recipient and lo represents the masculine singular thing. Combined pronouns are usually studied after the basic indirect pronouns, so first become comfortable with Gli do il libro and Lo do a Marco separately.

Advanced learners will also meet wider meanings. Dare su can mean “to overlook/open onto,” as in La finestra dà sul cortile (“The window overlooks the courtyard”). Dare per certo means “to take as certain,” and darsi da fare means “to get busy” or “make an effort.” These are fixed constructions, not meanings you should generalize to every sentence with dare.

Practice Tips

1. Recite the forms in useful mini-sentences. Say do un consiglio, dai una mano, dà fastidio, diamo il libro, date una risposta, danno le chiavi. A noun phrase makes each form easier to remember than an isolated list.
2. Practice the recipient switch. Start with Do il caffè a Maria, then replace the name: Le do il caffè. Repeat with a Marco → gli, a te → ti, and a voi → vi.
3. Build an expression deck. Put dare un esame, dare un’occhiata, dare ragione, and dare del Lei on separate cards with complete sentences. Translate for meaning rather than forcing the English verb “give” into every answer.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Regular -ARE Verbs — provides the regular present-tense pattern that helps you see exactly where dare is irregular.