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One of the uses of the verb dar in Portuguese seems to be "to find" as per the definition in Priberam:

Dar
[...]
28. Achar, descobrir, encontrar (ex.: deu com a fotografia escondida no livro).

However, I've found some people online suggest that using it this way sounds like broken Portuguese outside of fixed expressions like "Dar um jeito" and properly it should only be used in the phrase ""deu de cara com" outside of some fixed expressions.

So, I was wondering if using dar/deu to say "find" actually sounds broken if it isn't in "deu de cara com" or fixed expressions like "dar um jeito"

Jacinto
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Bigbadant
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  • Could you please, please provide an example of what you call broken Portuguese? You just give the verb but no sentence. Do you mean: Isso não dá, não? Which means: That doesn't work. [as in a solution] but it doesn't mean broken. There are tons of expressions in Portuguese, by the way, with dar. That Priberam entry is very, very long: A televisão não dá. means: it isn't working. It is not broken per se. – Lambie Dec 02 '21 at 19:52
  • @Lambie The example is in the definition "deu com a fotografia escondida no livro". And I didn't call it broken Portuguese, I said some people online considered it broken Portuguese, I am asking whether it is or not. – Bigbadant Dec 02 '21 at 19:57
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    @Big, I heavily edited your question. Just the presentation; the substance is the same. Hope you like it. If not, you can it roll it back or change in way you like; it is your question. – Jacinto Dec 02 '21 at 21:42
  • Can you tell us who told you that dar com algo is "broken Portuguese"? Did they say "broken" in English? Clearly, they don't get that concept. Broken means not fully formed, unidiomatic and full of errors. Dar com is in fact the only way to say: to run into somebody [like by accident in the street]. – Lambie Dec 02 '21 at 22:11
  • @Lambie Sure, although for a phrase to be "broken" one major error would suffice. It was from a Brazilian user and I actually only became aware of this usage of "Dar" because of the thread somebody posted. https://www.reddit.com/r/Portuguese/comments/r76ndp/comment/hmxnv16/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 – Bigbadant Dec 03 '21 at 00:26
  • Yep, just as I thought. Someone who is is clueless. I wonder how else that person would express; I came across those photos hidden in a book, in Portuguese. Dar com is the only way to express that. – Lambie Dec 03 '21 at 18:07
  • @Lambie, what about topar and deparar-se? – Schilive Dec 03 '21 at 18:16
  • @Schilive topar é mais para pessoas, cênãoacha? E deparar é um registro mais formal. – Lambie Dec 03 '21 at 18:36
  • @Lambie Fair enough. I'll put this one down to regional differences. I asked it in the Brazil and then again on the SP forum and the answers were almost unanimously that it sounds a bit odd. https://www.reddit.com/r/brasil/comments/r846ov/how_everyday_brazilians_speak/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/saopaulo/comments/r89rlt/s%C3%A3o_paulo_slang_question/ This is probably a regional thing, thanks for your help! – Bigbadant Dec 04 '21 at 10:53
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    Dar de cara com and dar com are not exactly the same thing. My problem with those answers is this: those people are saying things in English that are not accurate, thereby negating much of what they say. These are not regional differences. Dar de cara com means: come face to face with someone. Dar com is come across, find by chance, run into, run across; it depends on context. Also, that dar com a língua nos dentes means: to run your tongue over your teeth. – Lambie Dec 04 '21 at 14:17
  • @Bigbadant, I am Brazilian and I live in São Paulo state, and it sounds like every-day words to me (for example, «Eu ando, ando e ando pela porcaria da Santa Efigênia, e eu não dou com a loja de jogos, mas dou com a Americanas umas sete vezes!»), and Jacinto is from Portugal, so I think Lambie is right: it is just Portuguese and not everyone has the same Portuguese, as me and my family use veementemente (vehemently) normally and not everyone do, but veementemente is not regional. – Schilive Dec 04 '21 at 14:43
  • @Schilive Thank you for taking the time. As a foreigner, to me it just seems hard to understand how for natives living in the same city even (admittedly a huge one) this expression is something some hear commonly while others have never heard it before, so with regional differences I was just trying to find the divide which might explain why. – Bigbadant Dec 04 '21 at 17:11
  • @Bigbadant, I am pretty sure that also happens in English if you pay close attention to what people say. Maybe it is best practice to just imitate what people say: if they say dar com, say it; if not, do not. – Schilive Dec 04 '21 at 17:21
  • @Schilive Awesome, thank you! Needed this for a presentation. Just a final point, had someone suggest it needs to be in the reflexive form i.e. "Yes, it's right, but you have to put it in the reflexive form "Se dar com". "Ela se deu com a fotografia escondida no livro". " Just wanted to know if that is true. – Bigbadant Dec 07 '21 at 00:24
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    @Bigbadant Definitely not. Dar-se com can mean a few things, but not to find. Ele não deu com o caminho (couldn't find it), ele não se deu (bem) com o caminho (it caused him problems). – Artefacto Dec 09 '21 at 19:20

1 Answers1

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I am from Portugal, and I am perfectly familiar with that usage. There’s nothing broken about it. I reckon people who said it are just not familiar with it. Maybe younger folk don’t use it. Anyway, the way you put it, which is the way Priberam puts it, is confusing. It is dar com, not just dar, that means ’to find’. In my experience it is especially used when you find things in unexpected places, or people doing unexpected things, or hiding, or doing things they were not supposed to do. Examples from the Dicionário da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (2001; dar II.5):

Deu com as crianças na despensa a comerem as bolachas
Demos com a porta da casa arrombada
Demos com ele a mexer na minha carteira

It can be a good surprise:

Acordei a meio da noite, fui beber água, e dei com o João a arrumar a cozinha; ele que nunca faz nada em casa!

It’s also used when you can’t find something:

Ando aqui às voltas há montes de tempo, e não consigo dar com a tal loja

Jacinto
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    No, they say it because they say it in English and don't really know what they are saying. Dar com x is perfectly normal in Brazil, too. It can mean, as in your example, to run into someone, in the sense unexpectedly. It can be found, too. Dei com meus amigos quando saí à rua. I ran into my friends when I went out. – Lambie Dec 02 '21 at 22:12
  • @Lambie, great, I wasn't sure of that. I can only speak from my experience. – Jacinto Dec 02 '21 at 22:18
  • Jacinto, 90 percent of these idioms are the same. Especially, this kind of thing. This comes up in English all the time with people saying is this AmE or BrE? When in fact it is merely English. This is merely Portuguese. – Lambie Dec 02 '21 at 22:19
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    @Lambie, yes, 90% the same; but the 10% that are different stand out. I was writing this answer and thinking of this question about ir ter a and ir ter com, and people said, oh in Brazil we get it, but it's not much used... you can read the comments. – Jacinto Dec 02 '21 at 22:45
  • Thank you very much for your insightful answer! – Bigbadant Dec 03 '21 at 11:35
  • There's also the idiom "dar com os burros n'água". – Centaurus Dec 06 '21 at 14:46
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    "dar com" is perfectly understood in Brazil but sounds dated, especially to the younger generations. Exceptions are "dar com" in fixed phrases such as "dar de cara com", "dar com os burros n'água". – Centaurus Dec 06 '21 at 14:47