Y sembrar sus cositas por ahí... lo que da cebolla, tomate, al pimentón, el ají y otras cosas pues, por ahí.

And planting their little things around here... producing onion, tomato, red pepper, chili and other stuff, around here.

Captions 29-31, José Rodríguez - La Finca

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Have you noticed that the verb dar, which we usually take to mean "to give" seems to be used a lot in reference to the growing of fruits and vegetables. Well it turns out that what is doing the "giving," and sometimes it is implied, sometimes more explicit, is la tierra, "the land." Here we find José Rodríguez talking about people in the area "planting their little things around here... producing onion, tomato, red pepper, chili peppers, and other things, around here."

It's not the first time we find dar used in this way. If we check back with our friend Rafael discussing Guatemala:

La tierra... la tierra de las verduras... porque ahí hay'... da buenas... verduras, como repollo, zanahoria, cebolla... tomate...

The land... the land of vegetables... because there are'... it [the land] produces good... vegetables, like cabbage, carrot, onion... tomato...

Captions 14-16, Rafael T. - Guatemala Hermosa

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Digamos en la costa, también da buenas frutas como la naranja, la sandía, la papaya, el melón... el coco.

Let's say in the coast, it also produces good fruit like oranges, watermelon, papaya, melon... coconut.

Captions 18-20, Rafael T. - Guatemala Hermosa

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Another example:

Este año, mis tierras no han dado una buena cosecha.
This year, my lands didn't produce a good harvest.
 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

In all of the examples above, dar takes a direct object ("cabbage", "oranges", etc.). However, the reflexive darse can be used as well, with no direct object, and the meaning is "to grow," or "to come up." (This "reflexive" usage, as per the examples below, is somewhat more common in Spain than Latin America.)

He plantado aquí tomates, pero no se dan.
I planted tomatoes here, but they aren't growing (or "aren't coming up").

Las palmeras no se dan en Noruega.
Palm trees don't grow in Norway.

Estas papayas no se dan en todo lado.

These papayas don't occur everywhere.

Caption 10, Otavalo - Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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