All three mean “to help” so, what’s the difference?
帮忙 [bāngmáng]
To help.
More informal.
Typical structure: 请 [qǐng] /让 [ràng] + 帮忙 + verb
Example
hanzi
pinyin
meaning
爸爸让你帮忙做饭
bàba ràng nǐ bāngmáng zuòfàn
Dad asked you to help him make lunch
帮 + somebody + 一个（大）忙: to lend somebody a hand
Example
hanzi
pinyin
meaning
明天我要帮妈妈一个忙
míngtiān wǒ yào bāng māma yī gè máng
Tomorrow I want to lend my mother a hand
Since it’s a separable verb, you can’t add an object or person afterwards.
❌ 帮忙爸爸 [bāngmáng bàba]
❌ 帮忙妈妈 [bāngmáng māma]
It can be used by itself.
Example
hanzi
pinyin
meaning
你快来帮忙！
nǐ kuài lái bāngmáng
Come and help, quick!
帮助 [bāngzhù]
To help somebody do something.
More formal.
It can be a verb or a noun.
Example
hanzi
pinyin
meaning
谢谢你的帮助
xièxiè nǐ de bāngzhù
Thank you for your help
As a verb, the typical structure is: 帮助 + somebody.
Although not technically incorrect it doesn’t usually go alongside other verbs, just with the person receiving the help.
Example
hanzi
pinyin
meaning
你可以帮助我吗？
nǐ kěyǐ bāngzhù wǒ ma
Can you help me?
帮 [bāng]
To help somebody do something; to do something for somebody.
Most common in day-to-day speech.
Typical structure: 帮 + somebody + verb + noun
Examples
hanzi
pinyin
meaning
帮我做作业
bāng wǒ zuò zuòyè
Help me to do the homework
你能帮我开门吗？
nǐ néng bāng wǒ kāimén ma
Could you close the door for me?
It is usually repeated or “reduplicated” 帮帮.
Exercises
Fill in the blanks using 帮忙，帮助 or 帮:
我让了哥哥回家_____
你能过来_____吗？
我真的很需要你的_____
你可以_____我吗？
没问题，我_____你洗衣服
姐姐每天_____爸爸准备午饭
Answers
我让了哥哥回家帮忙
你能过来帮忙吗？
我真的很需要你的帮助
你可以帮助我吗？
没问题，我帮你洗衣服
姐姐每天帮爸爸准备午饭