donner

to give

verb doh-NEH Common

Usage Note

Donner anchors a swarm of everyday idioms — donner sa langue au chat literally hands your tongue to the cat and means to give up guessing, donner un coup de main is to lend a hand, and the casual ça donne quoi ? asks how something turned out. The reflexive se donner du mal means to go to great lengths.

Examples

"Il va donner son avis."

Natural Translation

He's going to give his opinion.

Literal Translation

He goes to-give his opinion

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