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Absence of obligation

Several decades of teaching have taught me that when a French person wants to express an 'absence of obligation',he/ she has an only sentence in mind : 'it is not necessary ... '! OK ! But a few seconds later , things go wrong when he or she systematically adds 'that' (no problem yet ...! ) , immediately followed by a grammatical horror! 

1) IT ISN'T NECESSARY... : This form,  that French people do love really exists... BUT it must be followed by a complete infinitive proposition (or a 'subjunctive' ... but that's another story !).

eg. : It's not necessary FOR you TO answer right away.

Here is, therefore, one of the ways to express an 'absence of obligation' ... but it's not, by far, the only one which is used ...

2) NEEDN'T : NEED : Here, this semi-modal behaves like a real modal auxiliary  : that is to say that the negative form is made simply by adding NOT to the 'verb', and doesn't need an auxiliary. It's very often found in the negative form and sometimes in the interrogative one.

eg. : You needn't go to that meeting ; it's going to be uninteresting ...

In the interrogative form, the speaker asks his co-speaker to give his opinion on the necessity or absence of obligation to do the action.

eg. : 'Need I go home now ?' means : 'In your opinion: Need I go, or not ?'

3) DON'T NEED TO : Here, the semi-modal auxiliary is considered like a normal verb, that is to say it needs the auxiliaries : DO/DOES/DID/WILL/WON'T/WOULD/WOULDN'T etc. in the interrogative and negative forms.

eg. : 'You don't need to go to that meeting, really ...'

The difference between 'you needn't go ' and 'you don't need to go' is very small ... Between the two, there's a slight nuance of points of view : 'needn't' expresses a judgement, an opinion from the speaker, whereas 'don't need to' sticks to facts and their observation.

Like for all 'ordinary' verbs, this form is used in all different tenses ('you didn't need to ...' ; he won't need to ... ; they wouldn't need to ...).

4) DON'T HAVE TO : Contrary to 'must', 'have to' expresses an absolute, objective necessity, which isn't required by the speaker. In the negative form,  (like 'don't need to') it will express , the mere observation of  facts, an absence of objective necessity.

eg. : You didn't have to bring your own dictionary : they'll lend you one !

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Don't be so hard on yourself! You needn't worrywouldn't need to worrydidn't need to worryneededn't worryI don't know! Enjoy life, take your time! There are so many things that are not essential in life, especially in these circumstances...
For instance, your house is clean and tidy ! You would need to hooverdon't have to hooverdidn't need to hooverI don't know it everyday. The sheets didn't need to bedon't have to bewould need to bedon't need beI don't know changed twice a week. Now, look at this pile of dirty clothes... The washing needed to be donehas to be donewill need to be donewas had to doI don't know yesterday, and the baby's clothes will have to bewill had to bewill need bemusn't bemust beI don't know taken care of everyday but they wouldn't have to bewill need beneedn't bedidn't need to beI don't know ironed.
While you're not feeling well, you didn't need to get updon't need to get upneedn't to get upI don't know at all. There are people here to help you... Oh I forgot, you will have towon't needed towon't need to waterI don't know the plants and you will not have takenwon't have to takewon't have need to takeI don't know your dog out either... We'll do it for you. The only thing you had to doyou'd had to doyou need to doyou have doneI don't know is take care of yourself and recover... Your kids need youhave found youfind it necessary that you areneeds finding youI don't know in good shape!