brauchen

See also: Bräuchen

German

Etymology

From Old High German brūhhan, from Proto-Germanic *brūkaną (use, employ, consume). English brook is cognate.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbraʊ̯x(ə)n/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: brau‧chen

Verb

brauchen (irregular, third-person singular simple present braucht, past tense brauchte, past participle gebraucht, past subjunctive bräuchte or brauchte, auxiliary haben)

  1. to need, to be in need of
    Ich brauche deine Hilfe.
    I need your help.
  2. to need to, to have to (in negation or with the adverb nur (just, only))
    Du brauchst nicht auf mich (zu) warten.
    You don’t need to wait for me.
    Sie braucht mich nur an(zu)rufen.
    She just needs to call me.

Usage notes

  • Traditionally, brauchen has been a weak verb in standard German with a regular past subjunctive brauchte. However, the irregular form bräuchte has since found its way from the dialects into the standard. It is already the only common form in spoken German[1], and is gradually becoming dominant in writing as well (although some grammars may still discourage this usage).
  • In colloquial German, the verb may be even further assimilated to modal verbs by taking a bare infinitive instead of a zu infinitive (du brauchst nicht schreien instead of standard du brauchst nicht zu schreien) and sometimes by taking an endingless third-person singular present (er brauch, instead of er braucht). Both of these are properties of modal verbs, cf. er soll gehen, er muss bleiben.

Conjugation

regular:

irregular:

Derived terms

References

Further reading


Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German brūhhan, from Proto-Germanic *brūkaną. Cognate with German brauchen, Dutch bruiken, English brook, West Frisian brûke.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʀæu̯χen/, [ˈbʀæˑʊ̯χən]

Verb

brauchen (third-person singular present braucht, past participle gebraucht, past subjunctive bräicht or bréicht, auxiliary verb hunn)

  1. to need

Conjugation

Irregular with past tense
infinitive brauchen
participle gebrauch
auxiliary hunn
present
indicative
past
indicative
conditional imperative
1st singular brauchen bräicht bréicht
2nd singular brauchs bräichts bréichts brauch
3rd singular braucht bräicht bréicht
1st plural brauchen bräichten bréichten
2nd plural braucht bräicht bréicht braucht
3rd plural brauchen bräichten bréichten
(n) or (nn) indicates the Eifeler Regel.
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