dar pena
verbCEFR B1
What does “dar pena” mean in English?
to feel sad that, it's a pity that
to feel sad that, it's a pity that (me da pena que + subjunctive — gustar-type emotion trigger)
Example sentences
Me da mucha pena que tengáis que trabajar el fin de semana cuando todos los demás tienen días libres.
It really saddens me that you have to work at the weekend when everyone else has days off.
Le daba bastante pena que sus hijos no pudieran ir de vacaciones aquel verano por falta de dinero.
It saddened him quite a lot that his children couldn't go on holiday that summer due to lack of money.
¿No te da pena que siempre haya alguien que se quede sin entrada en los conciertos?
Doesn't it make you sad that there's always someone who ends up without a ticket at concerts?
How to use it
Dar pena (que) means 'to feel sad that' or 'to be a pity that'. It is a gustar-type construction: the indirect object pronoun indicates who feels sad (me/te/le/nos/os/les), and the subject is the que-clause that follows. 'Me da pena que te vayas' = It saddens me that you're leaving. The thing causing the sadness is the grammatical subject — so the verb agrees with it: 'Me dan pena sus palabras' (plural subject). The que-clause always triggers subjunctive.
Common mistake
Do not confuse the gustar-type pattern with a reflexive or active construction: *'Yo doy pena que...' is wrong. The experiencer takes the indirect object pronoun (me da pena), not the subject position. Also: pena means 'sadness / pity' in this expression — it does not mean 'pain' (which is dolor).