dávat / dát — to give (aspect pair card) | Czech Grammar

This is the conjugation card for the pair dávat / dát ("to give") — the forms laid out side by side so you can look up any cell at a glance. For when to reach for which aspect, and for the wider meaning of "give" in Czech, read the essential-verb page dát / dávat. Here we keep it compact: two paradigms, the government pattern, and the high-frequency reflexive dát si.

The two presents, side by side

dávat is the imperfective (Class V, exactly like dělat) — it describes giving as an ongoing, repeated or habitual action. dát is the perfective — a single, completed act of giving. Because a perfective verb cannot describe something happening right now, the "present" column of dát does not mean the present at all: it is the future.

Person	dávat (impf.) — present	dát (pf.) — future meaning
já	dávám	dám
ty	dáváš	dáš
on / ona / ono	dává	dá
my	dáváme	dáme
vy	dáváte	dáte
oni / ony / ona	dávají	dají

Dávám dětem snídani každé ráno.

I give the kids breakfast every morning. (impf. — habitual)

Dám ti to zítra, slibuju.

I'll give it to you tomorrow, I promise. (pf. — single future act)

The rest of the paradigm

Form	dávat (impf.)	dát (pf.)
infinitive	dávat	dát
present	dávám…	— (no present; forms = future)
past (m./f./n.)	dával / dávala / dávalo	dal / dala / dalo
future	budu dávat	dám (no budu)
imperative	dávej / dávejme / dávejte	dej / dejme / dejte

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The single most important line in that table: the perfective dát has no budu-future. Its present-shaped forms (dám, dáš, dá…) already carry future meaning. Saying budu dát is like saying "I will will-give" — the future is built into the perfective itself.

Government: dative recipient + accusative thing

Both verbs share the same case frame, and it lines up almost perfectly with English "give someone something": the recipient goes in the dative, the thing given goes in the accusative.

Dal jsem mámě klíče od bytu.

I gave Mum the keys to the flat. (mámě = dative, klíče = accusative)

Dej bratrovi tu knihu, je jeho.

Give your brother that book, it's his.

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Czech has no preposition here. Where English can say either "give Mum the keys" or "give the keys to Mum", Czech simply puts the recipient in the dative and the thing in the accusative — the case endings do the work that English splits between word order and the word "to". Get the recipient into the dative (mámě, bratrovi, ti) and the rest follows.

The past tense aspect contrast

This is where the pair earns its keep. The same English sentence "I gave it to her" splits into two Czech sentences depending on whether you mean one completed handover (dal) or a repeated/ongoing pattern (dával).

Dal jsem jí ty peníze hned.

I gave her the money right away. (one completed act)

Dával jsem jí kapesné každý týden.

I used to give her pocket money every week. (repeated, habitual)

dát si / dávat si — to have, to order

With the reflexive si ("for oneself"), the pair becomes the everyday verb for having or ordering food and drink — what a waiter uses to take your order and what you use to answer. Dám si is the normal way to say "I'll have…".

Dáš si kávu, nebo radši čaj?

Will you have coffee, or would you rather have tea?

Dám si dvě piva a guláš, prosím.

I'll have two beers and a goulash, please.

Dávej si pozor, ať nespadneš.

Be careful you don't fall. (dávat si pozor = to pay attention / watch out)

Note the aspect split even here: dám si is a single order ("I'll have a coffee"), while dávám si would mean you do it habitually ("I have a coffee every morning").

Imperative: dej versus dávej

The aspect contrast survives into the imperative, and the two halves have specialised into different everyday phrases. Perfective dej asks for a single, do-it-now action; imperfective dávej asks for an ongoing or repeated one — which is why it dominates warnings and standing instructions. Several of Czech's most common set phrases live here, so it is worth meeting them as fixed expressions rather than rebuilding them each time.

Dej mi pokoj, mám práce nad hlavu!

Leave me alone, I'm up to my neck in work! (dej — perfective, a one-off demand)

Dávej na sebe pozor, ať se ti nic nestane.

Take care of yourself, so nothing happens to you. (dávej — imperfective, an ongoing instruction)

Dejte mi vědět, až dorazíte.

Let me know once you've arrived. (formal/plural: dejte vědět)

How this differs from English

English has one verb "give" and uses tense and adverbs to signal whether the giving was a one-off or a habit. Czech bakes that distinction into the choice of verb itself: you cannot say "give" without first deciding whether it was completed (dát) or ongoing (dávat). This is the aspect system in miniature, and dávat / dát is the cleanest pair to learn it on, because both halves conjugate regularly — dávat like dělat, dát on a short stem.

Common Mistakes

❌ Budu ti to dát zítra.

Incorrect — perfective dát takes no budu-future; its present forms are the future.

✅ Dám ti to zítra.

I'll give it to you tomorrow.

❌ Dal jsem mu kapesné každý týden.

Incorrect — a repeated action needs the imperfective dával.

✅ Dával jsem mu kapesné každý týden.

I gave him pocket money every week.

❌ Dal jsem dárek mámu.

Incorrect — the recipient is dative (mámě), not accusative.

✅ Dal jsem dárek mámě.

I gave Mum a present.

❌ Dávám si kávu, prosím.

Incorrect when ordering once — habitual dávám si means 'I regularly have'; for a single order use dám si.

✅ Dám si kávu, prosím.

I'll have a coffee, please.

Key Takeaways

dávat = imperfective (ongoing/habitual), conjugates like dělat; dát = perfective (single completed act).
dát has no budu-future — dám already means "I will give".
Government is dative recipient + accusative thing: dal jsem mámě klíče.
Reflexive dát si / dávat si = to have/order; Dám si kávu is the everyday "I'll have a coffee".

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