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 with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Browse the full episode libraryExample 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
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
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