Giving and Taking (dati, uzeti) | Croatian Grammar

Two of the most useful everyday verbs in Croatian are dati ("give") and uzeti ("take"). They are useful far beyond their literal meanings: daj! is a discourse particle ("come on!"), dati se means "to feel like it," and the give/take pair is the cleanest place to learn how Croatian handles a recipient — with the dative case, and crucially with no preposition. English says "give to me"; Croatian says daj mi — the bare dative mi already means "to me." Internalising that is the single biggest payoff of this page.

The give/take verbs at a glance

Each is irregular and each is perfective, with an imperfective partner for repeated or ongoing action.

Meaning	Perfective	1sg present	Imperative	Imperfective partner
give	dati	dam	daj! / dajte!	davati (dajem)
take	uzeti	uzmem	uzmi! / uzmite!	uzimati (uzimam)

Use the perfective for a single completed act ("give me the salt"); the imperfective for habits, repetition, or process ("she gives lessons," "don't take pills on an empty stomach"). Full paradigms live on the dati and uzeti reference pages.

Daj mi sol, molim te.

Pass me the salt, please. — perfective 'daj', one act.

Ona daje privatne instrukcije iz matematike.

She gives private maths lessons. — imperfective 'davati', a habit.

Uzmi jabuku ako si gladan.

Take an apple if you're hungry. — perfective 'uzmi', one act.

Ne uzimaj te tablete na prazan želudac.

Don't take those pills on an empty stomach. — imperfective 'uzimati' for a repeated action; negative imperatives prefer the imperfective.

The core pattern: accusative thing + dative recipient

Dati is a classic ditransitive verb: it takes two objects. What you give goes in the accusative (the direct object); whom you give it to goes in the dative (the recipient / indirect object). The two can come in either order, but the case endings — not the position — tell you who is who.

Dao sam knjigu prijatelju.

I gave the book to a friend. — 'knjigu' (accusative thing) + 'prijatelju' (dative recipient).

Dala je djeci čokoladu.

She gave the children chocolate. — 'djeci' (dative) + 'čokoladu' (accusative).

Daj sestri tu poruku.

Give that message to your sister. — 'sestri' (dative) + 'poruku' (accusative).

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The recipient of dati is the bare dative — there is no word for "to." Daj sestri = "give to (your) sister." English's "to" is fused into the dative ending itself. The full logic of the dative as indirect object is on the indirect object page.

Clitic recipients: daj mi, daj nam

In everyday speech the recipient is usually a pronoun, and the dative pronouns have short clitic forms that English speakers love because they are so compact: mi (to me), ti (to you), mu (to him), joj (to her), nam (to us), vam (to you pl.), im (to them). These attach right after the verb (or in second position) — no preposition, ever.

to me	to you (sg.)	to him	to her	to us	to you (pl.)	to them
mi	ti	mu	joj	nam	vam	im

Daj mi to!

Give me that! — bare dative clitic 'mi' = 'to me', no preposition.

Daj nam još malo vremena.

Give us a bit more time. — clitic 'nam' = 'to us'.

Možeš li joj dati ključeve?

Can you give her the keys? — clitic 'joj' = 'to her', sitting in second position.

When both objects are pronouns, the dative clitic comes before the accusative clitic: Daj mi ga ("give it to me"). The cluster order is covered on the clitic cluster order page.

Daj mi ga, ja ću to riješiti.

Give it to me, I'll sort it out. — dative 'mi' before accusative 'ga'.

uzeti — accusative only

Uzeti ("take") is monotransitive: it takes just the accusative of the thing taken. There is no dative recipient, because you take from somewhere/someone (expressed with od + genitive if needed), you don't take to anyone.

Uzmi moj auto, meni danas ne treba.

Take my car, I don't need it today. — accusative 'auto'.

Uzeo je novac od mene bez pitanja.

He took the money from me without asking. — source with 'od' + genitive 'mene'.

Idioms and discourse uses

These verbs power a cluster of high-frequency idioms that you will hear constantly:

Daj! — "Come on! / Oh come off it!" A standalone discourse particle, no object. Doubled Ma daj! expresses disbelief ("No way!").
dati do znanja — "to let (someone) know, make clear," literally "give to knowledge." Recipient in the dative: Dao mi je do znanja da je ljut.
dati se (+ dative + infinitive) — "to feel like (doing)," literally "to give oneself." Ne da mi se = "I don't feel like it."
uzeti zdravo za gotovo — "to take for granted" (literally "take healthy for done").

Ma daj, ne vjerujem ti!

Oh come on, I don't believe you! — 'daj' as a disbelief particle, no object.

Dao mi je do znanja da nije zadovoljan.

He let me know he wasn't happy. — idiom 'dati do znanja' + dative 'mi'.

Ne da mi se danas raditi.

I don't feel like working today. — 'dati se' construction: dative 'mi' + infinitive.

Common Mistakes

❌ Dao sam knjigu k prijatelju.

Incorrect — the recipient of 'dati' takes the bare dative, not 'k' + dative.

✅ Dao sam knjigu prijatelju.

I gave the book to a friend.

❌ Daj za mene tu olovku.

Incorrect — no preposition for the recipient; use the bare dative 'mi'.

✅ Daj mi tu olovku.

Give me that pen.

❌ Daj ga mi.

Incorrect — clitic order is dative before accusative: 'mi' before 'ga'.

✅ Daj mi ga.

Give it to me.

❌ Uzeo je novac meni.

Incorrect — 'uzeti' takes the source with 'od' + genitive, not a bare dative recipient.

✅ Uzeo je novac od mene.

He took the money from me.

Key Takeaways

dati (pf.) / davati (impf.) "give"; uzeti (pf.) / uzimati (impf.) "take" — choose aspect by whether the act is single or habitual.
dati is ditransitive: accusative thing + dative recipient, with no preposition — daj mi knjigu.
Recipient pronouns are dative clitics (mi, ti, mu, joj, nam, vam, im); in a cluster, dative comes before accusative (daj mi ga).
uzeti takes only an accusative object; the source uses od
- genitive.
Learn the idioms: Daj! ("come on!"), dati do znanja, ne da mi se.

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