Dare (to give) is short, common, and irregular in roughly the same places stare is — the two verbs are sometimes called "twins" because their irregular cells rhyme almost perfectly. Beyond its literal sense, dare carries a long list of idiomatic uses that no learner can avoid: dare del tu (to address informally), dare retta (to listen to / pay attention to), dare un'occhiata (to take a look), dare i numeri (to be talking nonsense), dare fastidio (to bother).
The single most important orthographic detail about dare is the third-person singular dà, which carries an obligatory grave accent. Without it, the form collapses into the very common preposition da ("from, by, at"), and the sentence becomes ambiguous or wrong. Mi dà un consiglio ("she gives me a piece of advice") versus mi da un consiglio (gibberish) — the accent is the difference between writing Italian and writing not-quite-Italian.
Indicativo presente
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | do |
| tu | dai |
| lui / lei / Lei | dà |
| noi | diamo |
| voi | date |
| loro | danno |
Compare against stare (sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno) — the parallel is almost perfect. The only orthographic difference is the obligatory grave on dà, where stare's sta takes none. The io form do is sometimes written dò (with grave) for emphasis or disambiguation, but modern style guides recommend the unaccented do, since there is no real ambiguity.
Ti do la mia parola: non lo dirò a nessuno.
I give you my word — I won't tell anyone.
Mi dai una mano a spostare il divano?
Will you give me a hand moving the couch?
Questa pianta dà dei fiori bellissimi in primavera.
This plant produces beautiful flowers in spring.
Diamo una festa per il compleanno di Marco sabato.
We're throwing a party for Marco's birthday on Saturday.
Date sempre il massimo, anche quando siete stanchi.
You guys always give your best, even when you're tired.
Imperfetto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | davo |
| tu | davi |
| lui / lei / Lei | dava |
| noi | davamo |
| voi | davate |
| loro | davano |
Fully regular -are imperfetto on the stem d- + -av- + endings. No surprises.
Mio padre mi dava sempre dei buoni consigli.
My dad always used to give me good advice.
Ogni domenica davano un film vecchio in TV.
Every Sunday they used to show an old film on TV.
Passato remoto — two competing forms
| Person | Form A (more literary) | Form B (more current) |
|---|---|---|
| io | diedi | detti |
| tu | desti | desti |
| lui / lei / Lei | diede | dette |
| noi | demmo | demmo |
| voi | deste | deste |
| loro | diedero | dettero |
Dare is one of a small group of Italian verbs (alongside stare with stetti) where the 1-3-3 persons of the passato remoto have two competing forms: the older diedi/diede/diedero (closer to Latin dedi) and the more recent detti/dette/dettero (modelled by analogy on stare's stetti). Both are correct; the diedi series is slightly more frequent in literary writing, the detti series slightly more colloquial. The tu, noi, and voi forms are shared (desti, demmo, deste) and have no competing variant.
Diede un'ultima occhiata alla casa e chiuse la porta.
He gave one last look at the house and closed the door.
Dettero il loro consenso senza esitazione.
They gave their consent without hesitation.
Futuro semplice
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | darò |
| tu | darai |
| lui / lei / Lei | darà |
| noi | daremo |
| voi | darete |
| loro | daranno |
Regular: stem dar- plus the standard future endings.
Ti darò la risposta entro venerdì.
I'll give you my answer by Friday.
Daranno l'annuncio ufficiale alle dieci.
They'll make the official announcement at ten.
Condizionale presente
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| io | darei |
| tu | daresti |
| lui / lei / Lei | darebbe |
| noi | daremmo |
| voi | dareste |
| loro | darebbero |
The familiar trap: daremo (future) vs. daremmo (conditional, double m).
Darei qualsiasi cosa per dormire dieci ore di fila.
I'd give anything to sleep ten hours straight.
Daresti una mano a tua sorella, per favore?
Would you give your sister a hand, please?
Congiuntivo presente
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (che) io | dia |
| (che) tu | dia |
| (che) lui / lei | dia |
| (che) noi | diamo |
| (che) voi | diate |
| (che) loro | diano |
The three singular forms collapse into dia. As with stare, the noi form is identical to the indicativo presente, and only context (or the trigger che) tells you which mood you're in.
Voglio che tu mi dia un parere sincero.
I want you to give me an honest opinion.
È strano che non ci diano alcuna risposta.
It's strange they're not giving us any answer.
Congiuntivo imperfetto
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| (che) io | dessi |
| (che) tu | dessi |
| (che) lui / lei | desse |
| (che) noi | dessimo |
| (che) voi | deste |
| (che) loro | dessero |
Built from the short stem d- + the -essi/-esse pattern — exactly mirroring stessi/stesse. A regular -are verb would give dareste, darebbero in this slot; dare and stare both bypass that pattern and use the shorter, irregular form.
Se mi dessi una mano, finiremmo prima.
If you gave me a hand, we'd finish sooner.
Pensavo che ci dessero più tempo per consegnare.
I thought they'd give us more time to hand it in.
Imperativo
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| tu | da' (or dai) |
| Lei (formal) | dia |
| noi | diamo |
| voi | date |
| loro (formal pl.) | diano |
The tu imperative has two acceptable forms: the short da' (with apostrophe, parallel to di', sta', va', fa') and the longer dai, which is identical to the indicative second-person singular. In imperative use, dai also functions as an exhortation/encouragement: Dai! ("Come on!"), Dai, andiamo! ("Come on, let's go!"). When followed by a clitic, only the short form da' is used, and its initial consonant doubles:
| Imperative + clitic | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| da' + mi | dammi | give me |
| da' + lo | dallo | give it |
| da' + ci | dacci | give us |
| da' + le | dalle | give to her |
| da' + glielo | daglielo | give it to him/her |
| da' + cela | daccela | give it to us (fem.) |
Dammi il tuo numero, ti chiamo io.
Give me your number, I'll call you.
Dacci un'altra possibilità, per favore.
Give us another chance, please.
Dai, sbrigati! Siamo già in ritardo.
Come on, hurry up! We're already late.
Forme non finite
| Form | Italian |
|---|---|
| Infinito presente | dare |
| Infinito passato | aver dato |
| Gerundio presente | dando |
| Gerundio passato | avendo dato |
| Participio passato | dato |
The participle dato is regular. Outside the verb itself, it has spawned the noun i dati ("data") — a useful etymology hook.
Dato che è tardi, rimandiamo a domani.
Since it's late, let's postpone to tomorrow.
Compound tenses
Dare takes avere as its auxiliary; the participle dato does not agree with the subject (only with a preceding direct-object pronoun, per the standard rule).
| Tense | io | noi |
|---|---|---|
| Passato prossimo | ho dato | abbiamo dato |
| Trapassato prossimo | avevo dato | avevamo dato |
| Futuro anteriore | avrò dato | avremo dato |
| Condizionale passato | avrei dato | avremmo dato |
| Congiuntivo passato | abbia dato | abbiamo dato |
| Congiuntivo trapassato | avessi dato | avessimo dato |
Ho dato il mio vecchio telefono a mio fratello.
I gave my old phone to my brother.
Le rose? Le ho date a Lucia per il suo compleanno.
The roses? I gave them to Lucia for her birthday. (date agrees with the preceding le)
Idiomatic expressions with dare
Dare anchors a long list of idioms that learners need to recognise on sight. The most frequent:
| Italian | English |
|---|---|
| dare del tu (a qualcuno) | to address someone informally (with tu) |
| dare del Lei (a qualcuno) | to address someone formally (with Lei) |
| dare retta (a qualcuno) | to listen to / heed someone |
| dare un'occhiata | to take a look |
| dare fastidio | to bother, to annoy |
| dare i numeri | to be talking nonsense / be off one's rocker |
| dare ragione (a qualcuno) | to admit someone is right |
| dare per scontato | to take for granted |
| darsi da fare | to get busy / get a move on (reflexive) |
Dammi pure del tu, non c'è bisogno di formalità.
Feel free to use 'tu' with me, no need for formality.
Dai retta a tua madre, sa quel che dice.
Listen to your mother, she knows what she's talking about.
Posso dare un'occhiata al menù?
Can I take a look at the menu?
Ma stai dando i numeri? Non ha senso quello che dici.
Are you out of your mind? What you're saying makes no sense.
Common mistakes
❌ Lui mi da un consiglio.
Incorrect — without the grave accent, da is the preposition 'from,' not the verb.
✅ Lui mi dà un consiglio.
Correct — dà (with grave accent) is 'gives.'
❌ Dami il libro.
Incorrect — da' + mi must double the consonant.
✅ Dammi il libro.
Correct — dammi with double m.
❌ Voglio che lui mi da una risposta.
Incorrect — voglio che triggers the subjunctive.
✅ Voglio che lui mi dia una risposta.
Correct — dia is the congiuntivo presente.
❌ Le rose le ho dato a Lucia.
Incorrect — when le precedes avere, the participle agrees.
✅ Le rose le ho date a Lucia.
Correct — date agrees with the feminine plural le.
❌ Noi daremo qualsiasi cosa per essere lì.
Incorrect for a hypothetical — this is the simple future.
✅ Noi daremmo qualsiasi cosa per essere lì.
Correct as a conditional — daremmo (double m).
Key takeaways
Dare is short, very irregular, and intertwined orthographically and morphologically with stare. Three points to lock in:
The third-person singular dà always carries a grave accent. Without it, the verb collapses into the preposition da. This is one of the most common spelling errors made by both learners and hurried native typists.
The imperative tu has two forms: short da' (apostrophe, used with clitics — dammi, dacci, dallo) and long dai (also used as the colloquial exhortation "come on!"). When clitics attach, the initial consonant doubles.
The passato remoto has two competing forms: the older diedi/diede/diedero and the more recent detti/dette/dettero (modelled on stare). Both are standard. Pick one and be consistent within a text.
The full irregular paradigm rhymes with stare at almost every cell — learn the two together and you've effectively learned both verbs at once.
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Open the Italian course →Related Topics
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- Avere: Full ConjugationA1 — Complete paradigm of avere (to have) across every tense and mood — the most-used verb in Italian and the auxiliary for the majority of compound tenses.
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