braucht
Braucht is the third-person singular present tense form of the German verb brauchen, meaning to need or to require. It is used when the subject needs something expressed in the accusative, for example: Er braucht einen Regenschirm (He needs an umbrella). The verb can also express a general necessity in impersonal constructions, as in Es braucht Zeit, das zu lernen (It takes time to learn that).
Brauchen is a regular (weak) verb. Its principal parts are:
- Present: ich brauche, du brauchst, er/sie/es braucht, wir brauchen, ihr braucht, sie/Sie brauchen
- Präteritum (simple past): ich brauchte, du brauchtest, er brauchte, wir brauchten, ihr brauchtet, sie brauchten
- Participle II (past participle): gebraucht, used with haben: Ich habe das Buch gebraucht.
Brauchen can also function in adjectival or noun contexts, producing phrases like gebrauchter Ware (used goods).
- In everyday language, brauchen is common and often preferred over benötigen, which is slightly more formal
- Negation: Ich brauche keine Hilfe (I don’t need help).
- It can appear in impersonal constructions with es or with time expressions: Es braucht Zeit (It
- brauchen vs müssen: brauchen refers to practical necessity or lack of necessity (I need it / I
- brauchen vs benötigen: benötigen tends to be more formal or technical, while brauchen is everyday language.
- Gebrauch, gebraucht (adjective/noun forms relating to use or used).
- Braucht in direct statements, questions, and conditional clauses follows standard verb placement rules in German syntax.