He need / needed not go to school yesterday

[Tan Elaine]

He need / needed not go to school yesterday.

Can either verb be used in the above sentence?

Thanks.

[philo2009]

He need / needed not go to school yesterday.

Can either verb be used in the above sentence?

Thanks.

Not in contemporary usage: the modal use of 'need' is restricted to its present tense-form.

To refer to the past, BrE employs the perfective construction [need not have + Ved] where the event in question actually occurred, or [did not need to V] where it did not. (AmE tends to employ the latter with either meaning.)

[Tan Elaine]

Not in contemporary usage: the modal use of 'need' is restricted to its present tense-form.
Thanks, Philo

To refer to the past, BrE employs the perfective construction [need not have + Ved] where the event in question actually occurred, or [did not need to V] where it did not. (AmE tends to employ the latter with either meaning.)

What is Ved? Could you or someone else elaborate on the reply? I cannot quite understand the reply.

[emsr2d2]

What is Ved? Could you or someone else elaborate on the reply? I cannot quite understand the reply.

Need not have + Ved = Need not have + verb + ed (simple past form regular verb) or Need not have + simple past form of irregular verb

I need not have tasted it.
He need not have driven the car.

[Tdol]

(simple past form regular verb)

Past participle.

[Tdol]

What is Ved? Could you or someone else elaborate on the reply? I cannot quite understand the reply.

He needn't have gone to school yesterday = he went but it was unnecessary
He didn't need to go to school yesterday = it wasn't necessary and he knew that and most likely didn't go

[BobK]

Past participle.

(There's not always an 'ed' around, in case anyone was wondering.)

b
PS Recommended background reading: Teach your grandmother to suck eggs - Idiom Definition - UsingEnglish.com