dati / davati (to give) | Serbian Grammar

Давати / дати is the core aspect pair for “give.” Давати presents giving in progress, repeated giving, or a general practice; дати presents one transfer as a bounded whole. A usable command of these verbs also requires their case frame: дати некоме нешто places the recipient in the dative and the transferred thing in the accusative.

Principal Forms

Form	давати (imperfective)	дати (perfective)
present	дајем, дајеш, даје, дајемо, дајете, дају	дам, даш, да, дамо, дате, дају
l-participle (m./f./n. sg.; m./f./n. pl.)	давао, давала, давало; давали, давале, давала	дао, дала, дало; дали, дале, дала
imperative	даји, дајимо, дајите	дај, дајмо, дајте
Future I, 1st singular	даваћу	даћу

The shared third-person plural дају hides two different paradigms. Learn давати — дајем and дати — дам as separate principal-form sets. The perfective l-participle contracts to дао, not дајео or датио.

The standard imperfective imperative даји is uncommon in neutral conversation. Speakers usually choose the frequent perfective дај for one transfer or recast an ongoing/repeated instruction as немој да дајеш, настави да дајеш, and similar finite clauses. Colloquial analogical давај is widespread in some speech, but it is not the careful standard form taught here.

Дај ми плаву фасциклу са горње полице.

Give me the blue folder from the top shelf.

Немој да дајеш псу храну са стола.

Don’t keep giving the dog food from the table.

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Memorize the contrasting present forms дајем “I am giving/give repeatedly” and дам “I give once/complete the transfer.” Both infinitives alone conceal that difference.

Recipient in the Dative, Thing in the Accusative

The core frame has three roles:

Role	Case	Example
giver	nominative	Јелена
recipient	dative	комшији
thing transferred	accusative	резервни кључ

Јелена је комшији дала резервни кључ пре одласка на пут.

Jelena gave her neighbor a spare key before leaving on her trip.

English can mark the recipient with word order or to. Serbian normally marks it with a dative ending and adds no preposition: комшији, not a literal translation with за or ка.

The complete case pattern is developed on giving and taking; this reference concentrates on making the forms and frame immediately usable.

Сваком учеснику дајемо беџ и примерак програма на улазу.

We give every participant a badge and a copy of the program at the entrance.

Here repeated procedure favors imperfective дајемо. The two given things are accusative; сваком учеснику is dative singular.

One Transfer or a Pattern

Use давати for a process, habit, repeated series, or general policy. Use дати when the relevant transfer reaches its endpoint.

Докторка му тренутно даје ињекцију, па сачекајте у ходнику.

The doctor is giving him an injection right now, so please wait in the hallway.

Докторка му је дала ињекцију и замолила га да остане још десет минута.

The doctor gave him an injection and asked him to stay another ten minutes.

Кад дам кључеве новом станару, послаћу ти поруку.

When I give the keys to the new tenant, I’ll message you.

Perfective present дам is future-oriented after кад. It cannot normally present a transfer unfolding at speech time. Imperfective даје does exactly that in the first doctor example.

Perfective verbs can occur in distributive habits when each repetition is viewed as a completed unit, but learners should begin with давати for an ordinary repeated pattern and interpret marked perfective habits from context.

Clitic Order: Dative Before Accusative

When both participants are pronouns, the recipient clitic precedes the thing clitic: ми га, ти је, му их, јој га, нам је, вам их, им га. All belong in the early clitic cluster.

Сутра ћу ти је дати чим добијем потпис директорке.

I’ll give it to you tomorrow as soon as I get the director’s signature. (it = a feminine noun)

Јуче сам им их дала на увид, али сам после састанка узела све примерке назад.

Yesterday I gave them to them for inspection, but after the meeting I took all the copies back. (female speaker)

The repeated English them hides two cases. Serbian им is dative “to them,” while их is accusative “them.” In сам им их дала, auxiliary сам precedes dative им, which precedes accusative их.

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Build the cluster by role, not English order: auxiliary + dative recipient + accusative thing. Thus сам му га дао, not сам га му дао.

Giving Permission: дати некоме да...

Дати + dative + да-clause can mean “let/allow someone to do something.” The dative identifies the person permitted to act; the following present form identifies that same actor.

Родитељи јој не дају да сама путује ноћу.

Her parents do not let her travel alone at night.

Дајте деци да прво сама покушају да реше задатак.

Let the children first try to solve the task by themselves.

This frame is not a physical transfer. English let her uses an object pronoun, whereas Serbian uses dative јој. With a noun, say дати деци да..., not accusative децу.

The conversational directive дај да + present means “let me/us...” or “come on, let’s...” according to the subordinate subject. It is neutral to (informal) and very common.

Дај да ја позовем сервис и објасним шта се догодило.

Let me call the repair service and explain what happened.

Common Collocations and Prefixed Relatives

Serbian uses дати in many conventional combinations: дати одговор, дати савет, дати дозволу, дати отказ, дати обећање. English may translate the light verb differently.

Правница нам је дала користан савет пре потписивања уговора.

The lawyer gave us useful advice before we signed the contract.

Дати отказ without a dative commonly means resign; дати некоме отказ means dismiss someone from a job. The recipient changes the event structure.

После дугог размишљања дао је отказ и прихватио посао у другом граду.

After a lot of thought, he resigned and accepted a job in another city.

Prefixes create lexical specializations: предати “hand over/submit,” додати “add/pass,” издати “issue/publish/betray,” одати “reveal/pay tribute,” раздати “distribute fully.” They are not merely stylistic versions of дати, and each has its own government and aspect network.

Не да ми се Is a Separate Construction

In (informal) everyday Serbian, не да ми се + infinitive / да-clause means “I don’t feel like...” The experiencer is dative and се is fixed; no one literally gives an object.

Не да ми се да кувам вечерас; хајде да наручимо нешто.

I don’t feel like cooking tonight; let’s order something. (informal)

Keep this idiom separate from transfer дати некоме нешто and permission дати некоме да....

Micro-dialogue

„Јеси ли Ани дао уговор?“ — „Нисам; даћу јој га сутра кад исправимо последњу ставку.“ — „Добро, али немој да јој дајеш стару верзију.“

‘Did you give Ana the contract?’ — ‘No; I’ll give it to her tomorrow when we correct the last item.’ — ‘All right, but don’t give her the old version.’

The exchange moves from one unrealized transfer to future perfective даћу, then uses imperfective дајеш under a negative directive to block an ongoing or possible giving event.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Mark both objects

Translate “We are giving the client the documents” and then replace both nouns with clitics. Identify the dative recipient, the accusative theme, and their order.

Task 2: Separate the three frames

Write one example of physical transfer, one of granting permission with дати некоме да..., and one informal sentence with не да ми се. Explain why only the first has an accusative thing.

Common Mistakes

❌ Дала сам за Марка резервну картицу.

Incorrect for a recipient — за Марка means intended for or on behalf of Marko; ordinary giving requires dative Марку.

✅ Дала сам Марку резервну картицу пре пута.

I gave Marko a spare card before the trip. (female speaker)

❌ Сада дам колегиници приступ систему.

Incorrect for a transfer underway now — perfective дам cannot express the ongoing event.

✅ Сада дајем колегиници приступ систему.

I’m giving my colleague access to the system now.

❌ Јуче сам га јој дала на читање.

Incorrect clitic order — dative јој must precede accusative га.

✅ Јуче сам јој га дала на читање.

Yesterday I gave it to her to read. (female speaker)

❌ Родитељи не дају децу да остану будна до поноћи.

Incorrect permission frame — the permitted person is dative деци, not accusative децу.

✅ Родитељи не дају деци да остану будна до поноћи.

The parents do not let the children stay awake until midnight.

Key Takeaways

Learn давати — дајем and дати — дам as distinct aspectual paradigms.
The central frame is дати некоме нешто: dative recipient plus accusative thing.
In a clitic cluster, dative precedes accusative: даћу јој га, сам им их дала.
Дати некоме да + present grants permission; conversational дај да... proposes an action.
Standard imperfective imperative даји is uncommon; neutral speech often recasts an ongoing instruction with да + present.

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