替grammar point · tier 1 · benefactive 替 (do something in someone's place, for them)
· tì
Benefactive: do the action standing in someone's place, on their behalf.
字源 FORM what the parts do
Two figures (夫) stand side by side over 曰; one steps down, the next steps up — one taking the other's place. The older graph wrote 竝 over 白 and has worn past clean reading; the two side-by-side figures are what the modern glyph shows, and they carry the swap. To stand in another's place is to act for them: 替我、替你.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
Someone leaves their spot empty, and you step into it and carry out what was theirs to do.
推測字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[subj] 替 [person] [verb phrase]
觸 · Trigger
You want to do a task on someone's behalf, taking the place they would have filled.
序 · The move
1Name whose place you step into — the person the action is done for — and put them right after 替.Is the slot after 替 a person, not the thing acted on?
2Put the whole verb phrase — the task that was theirs to do — after that person.Does the subject do this, with the named person standing back?
3If it is a request, close with 嗎 to turn it into a yes-no question.Read it back: subject does it, person is stood in for — not the reverse.
例 · Examples
1你可以替tì — for me, in my place我the one the task is done for把marks the gift as the thing acted on禮物包起來嗎？
替 stands in the person's place (you do it instead of them, as a substitute); 幫 assists with their task (you help get it done). 替你寫 = I write it in your stead; 幫你寫 = I help you with the writing.