Folsom (1968) gives some examples from the older German literature, i.e. Goethe and Schiller, in which the auxiliary brauchen is used in affirmative sentences:

i



...es ist entsetzlich, daß ich dir zu sagen brauche:
er ist unschuldig...
...it is horrible, that I you now to say need:
he is innocent...
ii

Was ists, das wieder gut zu werden brauchte?
What is-it, that again well to become needed?
iii



Es braucht nun gezeigt zu werden, daß
dieser Prinz einer solchen Abscheulichkeit fähig war.
It needs now shown to become, that
this prince to a such atrocity capable was.

According to Folsom, such sentences are not acceptable in present-day German. Pfeffer (1973), however, cites an example from a corpus of contemporary spoken German, in which the auxiliary brauchen occurs without a licenser:

iv

Es brauchen immer so die sehr schwierigen Sachen zu sein.
It need always so those very difficult matters to be.

Interestingly, also in the older Norwegian literature, i.e. Ibsen, similar examples can be found, e.g. å behøve as an auxiliary verb in affirmative sentences, a use which has become extinct in contemporary Norwegian:

v

Og det skal jeg behøve at sige dig!
And that shall I need to tell you!
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