hoeven

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦuvə(n)/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: hoe‧ven
• Rhymes: -uvən

Unclear. Cognates are attested much more sparsely, and later, than those of the prefixed form behoeven. It therefore appears that hoeven is a back-formation from behoeven.

hoeven

1. (intransitive) to be necessary
2. (auxiliary, with te) To need to, to have to

   Je hoeft niet ver te zoeken.

   You don't have to seek far.

   Je hoeft het maar te vragen.

   You only need to ask it.

3. (transitive, with maar) To need

   Ik hoef er maar twee.

   I only need two (of them).

4. (intransitive, euphemistic) to need to urinate or defecate, to need to go

Whenever a finite form of hoeven introduces a verb phrase, te is inserted before the first verb in the verb phrase.

As an auxiliary verb, hoeven is almost always negated (by niet (“not”) or geen (“no”)), or belittled (by adverbs such as nauwelijks (“barely”) or zelden (“seldom”)).

• moeten
• behoeven
• nodig hebben

• Afrikaans: hoef
• Javindo: hoef

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

hoeven

1. plural of hoef

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

hoeven

1. plural of hoeve