dare: a few fixed ways to use it (B2 Grammar)

dare has no single tidy rule. It comes in a few set ways you learn as whole phrases. One is daren't (= dare not) + the base verb, for when you're too afraid to do something.

daren't + the base verb

dare to + verb

Used like an ordinary verb, dare takes to + the verb: dare to do something. In the negative and in questions, you'll hear both didn't dare to + verb and the to dropped: didn't dare + base verb (I didn't dare wake the baby).

How dare you ...!

How dare you is a fixed expression, not a real question. You use it when you're angry or offended at what someone has done — it means roughly "you had no right to do that." It's emphatic and emotional, a reproach said with strong feeling. The form is fixed: How dare you + the base verb (and you can swap the person: How dare he, How dare they).