Difference Between Benötigen and Brauchen

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TOPIC: GERMAN

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Difference between benötigen and brauchen ?
007Junge
Can someone please explain the difference between them and in which case to use them. Thank you in
advance.

4 years ago

9 Comments

christian MOD

They're mostly interchangeable. "brauchen" is more common and "benötigen" is more formal.

"brauchen" can also be used as a modal verb, but "benötigen" can't.

Du brauchst das nicht (zu) machen = You don't have to/needn't do that

In colloquial German, "zu" is often dropped.

4 years ago

Quanyails
I'd say that "brauchen" = "need" and "benötigen" = "require".

1 year ago
ZL321 I realize that this is quite an old post, but I hope you don't mind if I ask: What about erfordern?

1 year ago

Jonas_Soe
Erfordern means require. The difference can be subtle, but they can not always be used interchangably.
For instance, orange juice requires oranges, but it doesn't really make sense to say that it needs oranges.

1 year ago

ZL321
I see. So would you use erfordern in the case you described?

1 year ago

felipearcaro
It helped me a lot, thanks!

1 year ago

ellablun
I'm not exactly a linguist so I'm confused with this "can't be used as a modal verb". It seems that benötigen is
a verb, and after looking up what modal verb is, benötigen sounds like one. it sets up the mood, does it
not? Could you explain this in terms I can understand, when do I use benötigen?

7 months ago

p1t
What about 'bedurfen'? How is it different from these two?

2 years ago

Semeltin 44

bedürfen seems old-fashioned to me. You might find it in a scientific text "Es bedarf einer genaueren
Analyse" and it means "to require".

2 weeks ago
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