‘Need’ and ‘dare’ are two verbs you need to know. But how do you use them correctly? We’ll explain how on this episode of Aprender Ingles con Reza y Craig

An email from Marcelo Fernandez from Argentina
Dear Craig and Reza
Not only can I learn English in your podcast but Music as well!
It was wonderful. Thank you very much !
Yes ! “Mogollón” is very funny here to such an extent that a friend and I “nicknamed” a Spanish guy . (Did Mogollón call?)
Speaking about “lots of and heaps of”, I think in Buenos Aires you frequently hear UN MONTON DE o LLENO DE (sheh noh as in shed). You can also hear BOCHA DE but mostly among teenagers.
I wonder if you could speak about the auxiliary verbs need and dare (semi-modals?)(She need not wait any longer/How dare you say that?)
Maybe there is a podcast about them but I haven’t been able to listen to it yet.
With best wishes
Marcelo

Message from Maria in reply to our inglespodcast newsletter
Hello!
It’s a pleasure to hear (listen to) you and Reza in your Podcast.
My name is Maria de las Mercedes but all my friends and family call me “Marìa”.
I am from Argentina. I live in Rosario. It’s a beautiful and big city near Buenos Aires.
Lionel Messi was borned (born) here. Do you know Messi, don’t you? (Question tags episode 20)
I love English, my level is intermediate. I’ve been improving my skills for a year and a half. I am doing a lot of things…for example:
. reading books (Harry Potter and the cursed child)
. watching Netflix’s series without subtitles (The Bridge, The Black List, and The Crown)
and other ways…I discovered your post this week and I am enjoying your classes… Sadly, I couldn’t enter the chat because of the time difference (-4hs).

– Maria, We chat on the internet most weeks. Follow us on Twitter – @mansiontwit and Facebook – for details.

Thanks very much for your help.
Big hug and a kiss for both of you.
Marìa

Need 

Need can be a main verb and a modal auxiliary verb.

Main verb: I need to improve my Spanish. / Do you need any help? / We don’t need any milk.
Everyone needs to feel loved.
As with other main verbs, add an ‘s’ for 3rd person singular positive form. He needs to know as soon as possible.
…and use ‘do’ ‘did’ and ‘does’ to make questions: Did you need to get up early today?
Need is followed by an infinitive.

Modal auxilliary ‘need’ is more common in British English and in the negative form.
You needn’t worry. / She needn’t book in advance.
As with other modal verbs, there’s no ‘s’ added for 3rd person singular negative and you make questions and negatives without the word ‘do’ – Need I pay to use the phone?

We use ‘need’ in the negative form mostly to indicate that there is no obligation or necessity to do something:
You needn’t take off your shoes. – You don’t need to take off your shoes.

Need can also be followed by a gerund when something needs doing – Your car needs cleaning (it needs to be cleaned). My flat needs painting.

Past use of ‘need’-
I didn’t need to buy milk as we had lots at home. So I spent the money on juice instead. (I didn’t buy more milk.) didn’t need to + infinitive
She needn’t have bought milk as we had lots of milk at home. (But she didn’t know that we had lots at home, so she (unnecessarily) bought more milk.)
needn’t have + past participle

Improve your speaking with an italki teacher

Dare

Dare (atreverse) , like need, can be an ordinary verb and a modal auxiliary verb.
As a normal verb, dare is followed by infinitive with ‘to’. Would you dare to eat cooked insects?
What wouldn’t you dare to eat?
You can omit the ‘to’: What would you not dare eat?

You can dare someone to do something.

I dare you to pick your nose live on this podcast!
When there’s a object pronoun, you cannot omit the ‘to’.
XI dare you pick your noseX

We don’t use infinitive with to after semi-modal dare in the expression ‘How dare you…….’ (Cómo te atreves)
How dare you pick your nose!
Not: XHow dare you to pick your noseX

Dare is used often in the negative in British English. “Don’t you dare touch that cake!” / “I didn’t dare tell her what I really thought of her.”

As a modal auxiliary verb, dare, like need, makes questions and negatives without ‘to’ – “I daren’t say what I think.” However, It’s more common to use other expressions to say the same thing.
“He’s afraid to say what he thinks.”

“How dare you speak to me like that!” / “How dare he criticize our podcast!”

I dare say (British English) = I think, probably or I suppose – “I dare say it’ll rain soon.”

Thank you Bellabisti for your email
Bella asks for more Spanish support when we speak.

Thank you for inviting me to participate in your free online conversation practice. I would like to do it but my pronunciation is bad and I feel embarrassed. I get nervous and I do not build sentences well. Something that does not happen to me when writing. (you have preparation and re-drafting time when writing, and you can re-read a text, but listening and speaking is more immediate).

Please send us feedback. We dare you:

1. What frightens you/makes you nervous or embarrassed about speaking English?

2. Can you think of a way or any situation in which you would feel comfortable about speaking online to practise English?

3. What would need to happen for you to jump in (lanzar) and speak English online? (if you knew the people or topic? if you could prepare before? etc)

4. What are your dreams about speaking English and what stops you from achieving this dream?

You can answer them by email or start speaking today and record your voice on speakpipe.
https://www.speakpipe.com/inglespodcast

Send us an email with a comment or question to [email protected] or [email protected].

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We want thank Arminda from Madrid for continuing to transcribe transcriptions for you. There are now full transcriptions for episodes 131, 134, 135, 136 and 138

On next week’s episode: How to tell jokes in English

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’