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I know that when need is used with a gerund, its meaning is passive. So, can I use prepositions in this case, or I cannot, and to be able to do that, I have to say need to be given/repaired to/by?

I believe that such a question has never been asked before, as I've found nothing explaining it.

  1. Dad, some money needs giving to me.
  2. My car needs repairing by me.
Mr realtor
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    Does this answer your question? How are "needs to be washed," "needs washing," and the regional variant "needs washed" to be distinguished"? Also "Needs cleaned" or "needs to be cleaned" and "A bed that needs made", among others. – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '23 at 12:30
  • If you remove the (syntactically optional) preposition + object, you're left with 1: [The] money needs giving / to be given** and 2: [The] car needs repairing / to be repaired**. The second of which is perfectly idiomatic with the -ing form OR the infinitive, but even the infinitive in the first sounds a bit odd to me. And the -ing form of #1 doesn't seem remotely idiomatic. – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '23 at 12:38
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    ...I think the reason the two examples are idiomatically different is to do with whether the subject actually *benefits* in some way from the proposed action. In this case, the car does benefit, but the money doesn't. – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '23 at 12:47
  • I'm seeking to understand whether The car needs repairing by me(WITH the preposition) is grammatically correct and understandable. – Mr realtor Jan 03 '23 at 12:57
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    Grammatically / syntactically, both sentences are fine. Compare Colourless green ideas need to be washed furiously - equally valid syntactically, but semantically as well as idiomatically nonsense. Idiomatically, only the second of your examples is credible. – FumbleFingers Jan 03 '23 at 13:04
  • 'The car needs repairing' and 'The car needs to be repaired' both sound fine to my (UK) ears. I'd use either. But I'd not tag on a 'by me' unless I was convinced only I could do the job properly, and NOT after the ing-form. Perhaps it's because the 'to be Ved' allows greater emphasis. // 'Dad, some money needs giving / to me' both sound very unnatural to my ears. The construction is not always available. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 03 '23 at 15:17
  • The claimed duplicate answers the query about the 'needs Ved' usage. This question essentially asks why 'some money needs to be given to me' is predictably available but 'some money needs giving to me' sounds, at least to my ears, far less natural. 21.7m Google hits for "needs to be given to them"; 36 000 for "needs giving them" of which the first 20/20 are false positives. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 03 '23 at 15:22

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