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1 We have some laptops needing to be fixed.

2 We have some laptops needed to be fixed.

I was told that 1 means that the laptops are still in need for a fix. 2 means that the need to fix them was in the past.

I construe that "needed" is a participle. What if we switch the sentences into the past?

3 We had some laptops needing to be fixed.

4 We had some laptops needed to be fixed.

3 means that at that time we had some laptops that needed to be fixed.

But what about 4? Is it correct? What does it mean?

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  • 1
    2 and 4 are not grammatical.
    – Billy Kerr
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 13:51

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'Needed' is the past participle of the verb to need, so it would not be appropriate to describe a laptop that is currently broken. You say that you have (present tense) these laptops, so the need to fix them is not in the past.

You could say "we have some laptops that needed to be fixed", meaning that in the past they needed to be fixed, but it is odd because if they no longer needed fixing surely you'd just say they have been fixed.

Using the present continuous "needing" carries the sense that the need is ongoing - that the laptops are 'waiting' to be fixed.

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  • Do you claim that 2 doesn't make sense?
    – user1425
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 12:18
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    @user1425 Yes. As written, it is ungrammatical and illogical.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 13:02
  • No. OP's example #2 is syntactically fine. It's just that it requires a sightly unusual context to make sense. We have some laptops [that] needed to be fixed implies we have fixed them [so they don't need to be fixed now].
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 13:06
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    @FumbleFingers example 2 is not syntactically fine. Read it again.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 13:08
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    @user1425 That's a kind of passive construction: Jack needs the laptop; the laptop is needed by Jack. But in your sentence about fixing, the laptop is what does the needing, not someone else.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jan 23, 2023 at 15:30

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