幫 — Benefactive: do the action for someone, in their place.

TSUMUGU · TBCL 2 (est.) · 語法

幫 grammar point · tier 1 · benefactive 幫 (do something for someone)

· bāng

Benefactive: do the action for someone, in their place.

字源 FORM what the parts do

Cloth (帛) below carries the sense; 封 above gives the sound fēng, drifting to bāng. The oldest job is the side of a shoe, the part that holds the foot up at the edge.

故事 STORY a scene to remember it by

Her arms are full at the door, so you reach in and turn the handle in her place.

字源記憶法

框 · Frame

[subj] 幫 [person] [verb phrase]

觸 · Trigger

You want to run an errand or perform a task on someone else's behalf.

序 · The move

1Name who benefits — the person the action is done for — and place them right after 幫.Is the slot after 幫 a person, not the thing acted on?

2Put the whole verb phrase — the errand itself — after that person.Does the subject do this action, and does the named person receive the benefit?

3If it is a request, close with 嗎 to turn it into a yes-no question.Read it back: subject acts, person benefits — not the reverse.

例 · Examples

1你可以幫bāng — for me, in my place我the one the errand is run for去郵局寄信嗎？

Can you go to the post office and mail the letter for me?

界 · Boundary

跟

幫 puts you in the person's place, acting for them; 跟 puts you at their side, both doing it together. 幫 = I do it for you; 跟 = I do it with you.

把

幫 takes a person after it (the one who benefits); 把 takes a definite thing after it (the one disposed of). 幫他 = for him; 把它 = act on it.

我幫信寄。 → 我幫他寄信。 (the slot after 幫 is the person, then the verb phrase)

我幫去郵局。 → 我幫你去郵局。 (name who it is done for)

我跟你買票。(when you mean: for you) → 我幫你買票。

English buries the beneficiary in a tail phrase 'for me' at the end; Chinese fronts it right after 幫, before the verb.