Dei um pequeno passo.

Dei is the first-person singular form of the verb dar in the simple past (also called the preterite).

• dar = to give
• dei = I gave

In the expression dar um passo, Portuguese uses dar where English usually says take a step.

This verb is irregular, so dei does not look very much like dar.

Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

So:

• Dei um pequeno passo.
• Eu dei um pequeno passo.

Both are correct. The version without eu is very natural and common.

Because dei can only mean I gave, the subject is already obvious.

Dei is in the preterite, which is used for a completed action in the past.

So Dei um pequeno passo presents the action as one finished event: I took/made one small step.

Compare:

• Dei um pequeno passo. = completed action
• Dava pequenos passos. = I used to take small steps / I was taking small steps

So here the speaker is referring to one specific step or one completed act.

In Portuguese, dar um passo is the normal expression for to take a step.

It is a fixed, very common combination:

• dar um passo
• dar um passo à frente
• dar o primeiro passo

Even though dar literally often means to give, you should learn dar um passo as a natural expression.

Because passo is a masculine singular noun, the article and adjective must agree with it:

• um = masculine singular indefinite article
• pequeno = masculine singular adjective
• passo = masculine singular noun

So they match:

• um pequeno passo

If the noun were feminine, the form would change:

• uma pequena coisa

In Portuguese, many adjectives can come before or after the noun, but the position can affect style or emphasis.

um pequeno passo is very natural and common. It sounds like a simple description: a small step.

You can also hear:

• um passo pequeno

But that often sounds a bit more marked, contrastive, or descriptive in a different way. For a basic sentence like this, um pequeno passo is the most natural choice.

Yes, passo literally means step.

It can refer to:

• a physical step while walking
• a figurative step in progress or development

So dar um pequeno passo can be literal or metaphorical, depending on context.

For example, it could mean:

• someone physically moved forward a little
• someone made a small amount of progress

In Brazilian Portuguese, dei is usually pronounced approximately like day in English, but with Portuguese sound quality.

A simple approximation is:

• dei ≈ day

It is one syllable.

The whole sentence is roughly:

• Dei um pequeno passo
• day oong peh-KEH-noh PAH-soh

That is only an approximation, but it can help at first.

Yes, absolutely.

• Dei um pequeno passo.
• Eu dei um pequeno passo.

Both are correct.

Adding eu can:

• make the subject more explicit
• add emphasis
• create contrast, as in I took a small step

But in normal conversation, leaving out eu is very common.

Normally, you need the article here, so Dei um pequeno passo is the correct natural sentence.

Dei pequeno passo sounds unnatural in standard Portuguese.

The phrase um pequeno passo works as a normal noun phrase:

• um = a
• pequeno = small
• passo = step

So the article is an important part of the sentence.

Yes. Dar um pequeno passo is very natural both literally and figuratively.

For example, in a figurative sense it can mean:

• making a little progress
• moving slightly closer to a goal
• making a modest improvement

So it works well in everyday speech, self-improvement contexts, work situations, and similar contexts.

Yes. The verb dar is irregular, so its past forms are worth memorizing.

The preterite forms are:

• eu dei
• você/ele/ela deu
• nós demos
• vocês/eles/elas deram

So dei is not something you can predict just by taking dar and adding a regular ending. It is a form you should learn as part of the verb’s conjugation.