brauchen

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈbraʊ̯x(ə)n/

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• audio (Austria)

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• Hyphenation: brau‧chen

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.

• 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.

regular:

irregular:

• gebrauchen
• verbrauchen

• Brauch
• brauchbar

• brauchen in Duden online

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

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

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

1. to need