German Verb Brauchen - Meaning and Conjugation

German Verb Brauchen - Meaning and Conjugation Transitive Verb Past Tense: Past Participle: Definition: to needHere brauchen is followed by an accusative object or phrase.Ich brauche einen neuen HutI need a new hat.Sie braucht mehr ZeitShe needs more time.Note: Do not confuse this definition of brauchen with gebrauchen. Even though you may hear it spoken at times (Ich gebrauche tglich acht Glser Wasser), it is still grammatically wrong. You can however substitute brauchen for gebrauchen and vice versa in the next definition as follows. Definition: to use/useful forWith this definition you can often use brauchen and gebrauchen interchangeably, particularly with the verb kà ¶nnen. There is no difference in meaning.Kannst du das Geld brauchen?Would this money be useful to you?Kannst du das Geld gebrauchen? Heute bin ich zu nichts zu brauchen.I am of no use today.Heute bin ich zu nichts zu gebrauchen.But always the infinitive form brauchen needs to be used, in order to stick with the meaning of to use/useful for. Definition: not need toIn German, this translates to brau chen nicht zu infinitive of second verb:Ich brauche nicht meine Hausaufgaben zu tun - I dont need to do my homework.Sie brauchen meinen Sohn heute nicht abzuholen - You dont need to pick up my son today.In spoken German however, it is common to omit zu such as in Du brauchst das nicht kaufen, even though technically it is not grammatically correct. In written German though, zu is imperative. In fact there is a well-known Eselsbrà ¼cke (a help phrase) repeated often in schools to remind students of this grammatical slip-up:Wer brauchen ohne zu gebraucht, braucht brauchen gar nicht zu gebrauchen.Basically this phrase says: Use zu when using brauchen otherwise dont use brauchen at all.Brauchen zu Used Only In NegationAs youve probably observed, there are no statements with brauchen that express need to (-brauchen zu), thats because brauchen doesnt have any. It is only used with negated sentences. If you want to say I need to eat, for example, then you express it as Ich muss essen and not Ich brauche zu essen. Strictly speaking, there is no literal translation in German of I need to eat, since mà ¼ssen, also means must.Du brauchst keine neue Schuhe zu kaufen. You dont need to buy new shoes.Du musst neue Schuhe kaufen.You need to buy new shoes. Phrases and Expressions with brauchen: gebraucht used, second-handein gebrauchter Wagen/ ein GebrauchtwagenEr ist zu allem zu brauchen.He is very handy to have around.