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Search results for 'need':

need verb (needed, needing) 1 to lack; to require. 2 intrans (also as auxiliary verb - see Usage Note) to be required or obliged to be or do something • We need to find a replacement • They needn't stay. noun 1 something one requires. 2 (need of or for something) a condition of lacking or requiring it; an urge or desire. 3 (need for something) necessity or justification for it. if need or needs be if necessary. in need needing help or financial support. See also needs.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon nead or nied.

need

Need may be used either as an ordinary intransitive verb or as an auxiliary verb.

When need is used as an intransitive verb, the form of the verb accompanying 'he/she/it' ends in '-s', questions and negative statements are formed with the auxiliary verb 'do', and a following verb is preceded by 'to' • If he needs to go, I'll just have to let him • You don't need to go • I didn't need to see him at all • Didn't you need to tell him something?

When need is used as an auxiliary verb, the verb accompanying 'he/she/it' has no '-s' ending, questions and negative statements are formed without 'do', and there is no 'to' before the following verb• • She needn't go if she doesn't want to • Need we tell her at all? This auxiliary-verb construction is possible only in questions and negative statements in the present tense.