dati → dam

Present of Dati

Level 2

Dati is perfective. Its present often occurs in a dependent clause or another context that does not describe an action unfolding right now.

How It Works

Learn the common series dam, daš, da, damo, date, daju. Dictionaries also record other present variants, but this set is useful for initial production.

In Kad ti dam knjigu, pročitaj je., dam refers to a completed giving event inside a future-oriented temporal clause. For ongoing giving now, imperfective dajem is the ordinary choice.

Dati can take both a dative recipient and an accusative thing: Dala mu je knjigu. The third-person plural daju also occurs in davati’s paradigm, so a surface form alone does not always reveal which aspectual verb is intended.

Examples (3)

  1. Kad ti dam knjigu, pročitaj je.

    When I give you the book, read it.

    Dam appears in a dependent future-oriented clause.

  2. Želim da mi daš ključ.

    I want you to give me the key.

    Daš is second-person singular after conjunction da.

  3. Kad im damo novac, krenut ćemo.

    When we give them the money, we will leave.

    Damo marks first-person plural.

How It Connects

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dati → damLevel 2Present of Dati

Learn This First

Dati illustrates the -am pattern with a perfective lexical verb; later aspect study explains its time readings.

Words in This Pattern

dati