Preterite of Dar | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

The verb dar (to give) is irregular in the preterite -- and its irregularity is uniquely surprising. Despite being an -ar verb, dar takes preterite endings that look like those of a regular -er or -ir verb. This happens because dar is monosyllabic and historically irregular: it never followed the standard -ar pattern in the past tense. Since dar appears in dozens of everyday expressions, mastering these forms is essential for talking about the past.

Conjugation

Person	Form	English
eu	dei	I gave
tu	deste	you gave
ele / ela / você	deu	he/she gave; you gave
nós	demos	we gave
(vós)	(destes)	(you all gave)
eles / elas / vocês	deram	they gave; you all gave

Look at the endings: -i, -este, -eu, -emos, -estes, -eram. These are the regular -er/-ir preterite endings, not the -ar set you would expect. Compare with a regular -ar verb like falar: falei, falaste, falou. The pattern is completely different. You must memorize dar as a special case.

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An easy way to remember: dei ends in -i like comi (I ate), deu ends in -eu like comeu (he ate). Think of dar as a verb that "borrowed" the -er preterite endings. Once you see it this way, the conjugation follows a pattern you already know.

Why -er endings on an -ar verb?

This is one of the most distinctive irregularities in Portuguese. Here is the comparison side by side:

Person	dar (irregular -ar)	falar (regular -ar)	comer (regular -er)
eu	dei	falei	comi
tu	deste	falaste	comeste
ele / você	deu	falou	comeu
nós	demos	falámos	comemos
eles / vocês	deram	falaram	comeram

The dar column matches the comer column almost perfectly -- deste/comeste, deu/comeu, demos/comemos, deram/comeram. Only the eu form differs slightly (dei vs comi). This -er pattern is a fossil from Latin, where dare was already irregular in the past tense. No other -ar verb behaves this way.

Giving in the past

The core meaning: describing what someone gave.

Dei-lhe um presente pelos anos.

I gave him/her a present for their birthday.

O que deste à Maria?

What did you give Maria?

Demos o nosso número ao professor.

We gave our number to the teacher.

Eles deram uma festa enorme no sábado.

They threw a huge party on Saturday.

The demos trap: preterite or present subjunctive?

The form demos is identical in two places: the 1st-person plural preterite of dar (we gave) and the 1st-person plural of the present subjunctive of dar (that we give). Context disambiguates almost instantly -- the preterite stands alone as a statement of fact, while the subjunctive appears under a triggering expression like é importante que, espero que, or talvez.

Demos cinco euros a cada criança.

We gave five euros to each child. (preterite -- statement of what happened)

É importante que demos o nosso melhor.

It's important that we give our best. (present subjunctive -- after é importante que)

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If demos is the main verb of a stand-alone past sentence, it is the preterite. If it appears in a subordinate clause after a subjunctive trigger (que, para que, é preciso que…), it is the present subjunctive. There is no way to tell from the form alone -- you must read the clause.

Dar para in the past

The construction dar para + infinitive -- meaning "to be possible to" -- is one of the most useful in European Portuguese. In the preterite, it reports whether something turned out to be feasible.

Não deu para ir.

It wasn't possible to go.

Deu para acabar a tempo?

Were you able to finish on time?

Deu para perceber que ele estava nervoso.

You could tell he was nervous.

Não deu para ver o filme todo.

We didn't manage to see the whole film.

This construction is always impersonal -- the verb stays in the third-person singular deu, regardless of who is involved. For the present-tense version, see Present Indicative of Dar.

Dar-se in the past

The reflexive dar-se expresses getting along or, in formal contexts, occurring.

Demo-nos muito bem durante a viagem.

We got along really well during the trip.

Ela deu-se ao trabalho de vir de propósito.

She went to the trouble of coming on purpose.

Deu-se + event is a formal or journalistic way to say something happened:

Deu-se um acidente na autoestrada.

An accident occurred on the highway.

This register is more common in news reports and written Portuguese than in everyday speech, where houve (from haver) or aconteceu is preferred.

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Watch the reflexive spelling. When nos attaches to demos (1pl preterite + 1pl reflexive), the final -s of demos drops, giving demo-nos -- mirroring the same rule seen with mudámo-nos, sentámo-nos, etc. Writing ~~demos-nos~~ is a common learner slip.

Dar in past expressions

Several fixed expressions with dar appear constantly in the preterite. These go well beyond the literal meaning of "to give."

Expression	Meaning	Example
dar-se conta de	to realize	Dei-me conta do erro. (I realized the mistake.)
dar um passeio	to take a walk	Demos um passeio pela cidade. (We took a walk through the city.)
dar à luz	to give birth	Ela deu à luz ontem. (She gave birth yesterday.)
dar certo / errado	to turn out well / badly	Deu tudo certo. (Everything turned out well.)
dar jeito	to come in handy	Deu muito jeito ter o carro. (Having the car came in really handy.)
dar com	to come across / run into	Dei com ele na rua. (I ran into him on the street.)
dar em nada	to come to nothing	O plano deu em nada. (The plan came to nothing.)

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The expression deu tudo certo (everything turned out well) is extremely common in casual European Portuguese. You will hear it as a way to confirm that plans worked out, a project succeeded, or a situation resolved itself. Its opposite is deu tudo errado (everything went wrong).

Common mistakes

❌ Eu dou-lhe o livro ontem.

Incorrect -- dou is present ('I give'); the preterite is dei.

✅ Eu dei-lhe o livro ontem.

I gave him/her the book yesterday.

❌ Nós damos as chaves à Ana ontem.

Incorrect -- damos is present; the preterite is demos.

✅ Nós demos as chaves à Ana ontem.

We gave the keys to Ana yesterday.

❌ Eles daram uma festa enorme.

Incorrect -- the 3pl preterite is deram, not *daram. No -ar verb-style ending survives in dar's preterite.

✅ Eles deram uma festa enorme.

They threw a huge party.

1. Using -ar preterite endings. Forms like ~~dou~~ (that is the present!), ~~daste~~, or ~~dou~~ for the third person do not exist in the preterite. The correct forms use -er-style endings: dei, deste, deu.

2. Confusing dei with darei. Dei is the preterite (I gave). Darei is the future (I will give). They describe opposite time frames. Dei-te o livro ontem (I gave you the book yesterday) vs Dar-te-ei o livro amanhã (I will give you the book tomorrow).

3. Confusing dei with dói. Dei (I gave) and dói (it hurts) sound somewhat similar but are entirely different verbs. Dei-lhe o recado (I gave him the message) vs Dói-me a cabeça (My head hurts).

4. Applying regular -ar patterns by analogy. Because falar gives falei/falaste/falou, learners sometimes produce ~~darei/daraste/darou~~. Remember that dar is the only -ar verb that takes -er preterite endings -- it must be memorized as an exception.

5. Forgetting that demos is also the present subjunctive. When you read demos in a subjunctive trigger context (e.g. é bom que demos…), it is not the preterite; it is the present subjunctive. The form is the same, but the meaning flips from past fact to hoped-for or required action.

For the full preterite system, see Preterite Overview. For the present-tense forms of this verb, see Present Indicative of Dar. For another highly irregular preterite verb, see Preterite of Ser and Ir.