帮忙
to help; to do a favor
HSK level
- Pinyin
- bāngmáng
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 15
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 帮忙
帮忙 is written with 15 strokes (帮: 9, 忙: 6). The animation replays automatically.
What does 帮忙 mean?
帮忙 (bāngmáng) means 'to help (out)' or 'to do a favor' — the everyday word for lending someone a hand.
Grammatically it is a so-called 'separable verb': 帮 ('help') + 忙 ('busy work / a busy task'), and the two halves can split apart. You say 帮一个忙 ('do a favor'), 帮了我一个大忙 ('did me a big favor'), 帮过他几次忙 ('helped him out a few times'). Because 忙 is already the noun-like object, you cannot add another object directly after 帮忙 — say 帮我做饭 ('help me cook') not 帮忙我做饭.
Compared with 帮助 (bāngzhù), 帮忙 is more casual, hands-on, and spoken; 帮助 is more abstract and written ('the program helps students learn'). Native speakers reach for 帮忙 anytime they ask a friend for a small favor.
Note: Neutral and extremely common in everyday speech. The classic polite request is 你能帮我一个忙吗？ ('Can you do me a favor?'). For more formal written contexts, 帮助 (bāngzhù) sounds slightly heavier.
Character by character
Memory hook: Literally 'help + busy' — when someone is busy, you step in and help.
Hear 帮忙 in real episodes
帮忙 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
别的乘客也来帮忙，大家一起，把副驾驶按在地上。
Other passengers came to help, and together they pinned the co-pilot to the floor.
A FlyDubai Co-Pilot Attacked His Captain With the Cockpit's Own Axe. Passengers Broke In and Saved the Plane.
Example sentences
你能帮我一个忙吗？
Nǐ néng bāng wǒ yí gè máng ma?
Can you do me a favor?
spoken, polite
谢谢你的帮忙。
Xièxie nǐ de bāngmáng.
Thanks for your help.
spoken
我下午有时间，可以帮忙。
Wǒ xiàwǔ yǒu shíjiān, kěyǐ bāngmáng.
I'm free in the afternoon, I can help out.
spoken
他真的帮了我大忙。
Tā zhēn de bāng le wǒ dà máng.
He really did me a huge favor.
spoken
需要帮忙的时候，叫我。
Xūyào bāngmáng de shíhou, jiào wǒ.
Call me whenever you need help.
spoken
Common phrases with 帮忙
Synonyms
帮助 is more formal and written; it can be a noun ('the help') or verb ('to help'). 帮忙 is the casual spoken form for small favors. Use 帮助 in essays and announcements; 帮忙 with friends.
Just 帮 by itself takes a direct object: 帮我 ('help me'), 帮你做 ('help you do it'). 帮忙 takes no direct object — the 忙 already fills that slot.
Don't confuse 帮忙 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 帮忙 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
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