Quote Originally Posted by CloudAngel View Post
Is подавать to give in the sense of to give advice, to give a smile, to give (a non tangable object) and давать is to give a document, to give a (object)?
No. Hm... It is difficut for me to express meaning of "по-" in this case... Maybe it is case of memorizing.
There are some rules here: https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BF%D0%BE- , and (3) is fitting, but not completely.