My cold water shut off valve in the basement just turns perpetually when I try to shut it off. It shouldnttake many minutes of turningin order to shut off the water supply to the house right? Do I need a plumber?

That is most likely a gate valve. First make sure the handle is tight. If it is, watch the stem as you turn the valve. If it does turn, the disc had come off the stem or the stem thread is stripped
You are lucky in a way, sometimes you can't turn the water on. At least you can shut off the water at the meter. You may be able to turn the water off at the street, disassemble the valve and see if you can fix it. I would replace the gate valve with a 1/4 turn ball valve.

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It shouldnttake many minutes of turningin order to shut off the water supply to the house

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Are you saying it eventually shuts off or simply spins around? Back to you, Tom