Needs Or Need?

In my opinion,

in relative clauses the rules on auxilliary usages don't apply. i.e: I have / she has etc.

so, "me" is singular and takes "needs".

in deciding which relative pronoun to use, the singularity or plurality of the preceding noun must be taken into consideration.

"me" is singular...

Hello Stephen, I'm an English learner from Japan.

There seems no strict rule about the choice between "needs" and "need".
I myself would like to use "need", because I think 'who' is actually 'I'.
But many native speakers use "needs" especially for 'it's me'.
Probably it is because they think 'who' is equal to 'it'.

I made a google survey. The results are as follws.
1) It's I who needs/need ... 21/15 It's I who is/am ... 63/462
2) It's me who needs/need ... 616/30 It's me who is/am ... 841/157
3) It's us who needs/need ...46/108 It's us who is/are ...100/253
4) It's we who needs/need ... 0/211 It's we who is/are ... 2/859

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paco

You're doing fine, Paco!

They're interesting results. If we exclude 1a (small sample), they suggest 'person of verb by nearest preceding subject pronoun' – except 3. So 'me...is' jars less than 'us...is'; which takes us back to Paco's point about number.

But then, perhaps some instances here of 'need' are semi-modal, i.e. with no 'needs' form.

MrP

This is a problem of messing-up "need" which is a) a full verb and b) a modal helping verb.

a) As a full verb, "need" means "require, lack sth" or also "have to".
In this case, need conjugates like all the other 'normal' verbs:
3rd person singular with -s, followed by an infinitive with "to", negated with "don't".
Ex:
I need money, he needs to go. He doesn't need to go.

b) As a modal helping verb, "need" only appears in its negation or with a negated element in a sentence. It means "not to have to".
In this case, need conjugates like a modal, i.e. esp.:
NO -s for 3rd person singular, it is followed by an infinitive without "to", negated by "not".
Ex:
I needn't go, he needn't go.

"need" in your example, Stephen, is a full verb (not negated, infinitive followed by "to"), so it has to take an -s for third person singular.

because here "need" works as a main verb, when we want to use it as a "semi modal auxiliary verb then we should not use "s" ex: He need to wash the car, here "need" works as a modal and also the word "need" is a "semi modal axuilary verb" with modals we can't use any "s" "es" and "ies".

Anonymousbecause here "need" works as a main verb, when we want to use it as a "semi modal auxiliary verb then we should not use "s" ex: He need to wash the car, here "need" works as a modal and also the word "need" is a "semi modal axuilary verb" with modals we can't use any "s" "es" and "ies".

He need to wash the car, here. (Is "need" the correct verb?)

Anonymousbecause here "need" works as a main verb, when we want to use it as a "semi modal auxiliary verb then we should not use "s" ex: He need to wash the car, here "need" works as a modal and also the word "need" is a "semi modal axuilary verb" with modals we can't use any "s" "es" and "ies".

The sentence of yours that I have underlined is incorrect. When need is used as a modal, it is followed by a bare infinitive, Modal need is not used in an affirmative context. These are posible:

Non-modal

He needs to wash the car
He doesn't need to wash the car.
I don't think he needs to wash the car.

Modal

He need wash the car.
He needn't wash the car.
I don't think he need wash the car,