help – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to help oneself
Participle: helped oneself
Gerund: helping oneself

Cognates

See the 8 cognates of help

Indicative

Subjunctive

Conditional

Imperative

you	help oneself
we	Let's help oneself
you	help oneself

Indicative

Conditional

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

provide assistance

assist

help or assist

grip

to provide assistance to someone or something

abet, aid, assist, befriend, bestead, come to someone's aid, give someone a hand, grip, help out, lend a hand, lend a helping hand, mend, relieve, stead, succor, succour, support, sustain

to provide assistance

assist, chip in, help out, muck in, pitch in

aid

abet, assist, support, uphold, back, befriend, encourage, cooperate

ease

foster, further, promote, facilitate

relieve

alleviate, cure, heal, improve, remedy, restore, better, correct

avoid

forbear

Antonyms

to make difficult to accomplish; to frustrate, act as obstacle

abet, assist, expedite, facilitate, further, hurdle, nurture, hinder

to provide assistance to someone or something

hinder, hurt

to have a contrary or opposing effect or force on

abet, assist, reinforce, support, sustain, counteract

aid

hinder, impede, obstruct, thwart

ease

uneasiness, turmoil, unrest, effort

avoid

face, meet, confront, encounter

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. O.E. helpan (class III strong verb; past tense healp, pp. holpen), from P.Gmc. *khelpanan (cf. O.N. hjalpa, O.Fris. helpa, Du. helpen, Ger. helfen), from PIE base *kelb-/*kelp- "to help" (cf. Lith. selpiu "to support, help"). Sense of "serve someone with foot at table" (1688) is translated from Fr. servir "to help, stead, avail," and led to helping "portion of food" (1824). Use of help as euphemism for "servant" is Amer.Eng., 1645, tied up in notions of class and race.

"A domestic servant of American birth, and without negro blood in his or her veins ... is not a servant, but a 'help.' 'Help wanted,' is the common heading of advertisements in the North, when servants are required." [Chas. Mackay, "Life and Liberty in America," 1859].

The M.E. pp. holpen survives in biblical and U.S. dial. use.
2. From Middle English helpen, from Old English helpan (“to help, aid, assist, benefit, relieve, cure”), from Proto-West Germanic *helpan, Proto-Germanic *helpaną (“to help”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb-, *ḱelp- (“to help”).
3. Cognate with North Frisian halep, heelpe, help (“to help”), Saterland Frisian hälpe (“to help”), West Frisian helpe (“to help”), Cimbrian hölfan (“to help”), Dutch helpen (“to help”), German helfen (“to help”), Low German helpen, hölpen, hülpen (“to help”), Luxembourgish hëllefen (“to help”), Yiddish העלפֿן (helfn, “to help”), Danish hjælpe (“to help”), Faroese and Icelandic hjálpa (“to help”), Norwegian Bokmål hjelpe (“to help”), Norwegian Nynorsk hjelpa, hjelpe (“to help”), Swedish hjälpa (“to help”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐍀𐌰𐌽 (hilpan, “to help”), Lithuanian šelpti (“to help, support”). See: Middle English 'helpen', Old English 'helpan', Proto-Germanic '*helpaną', Frisian, Saterlandic 'hälpe', Cimbrian 'hölfan', Dutch 'helpen', German, old spelling 'helfen', Low Saxon 'helpen', Luxembourgish 'hëllefen', Danish 'hjælpe', Norwegian 'hjelpe', Norwegian, nynorsk 'hjelpa', Swedish 'hjälpa'.

Verbs referencing "help"

German, old spelling helfen, Ido helpar, Esperanto helpi, Finnish with old forms kelvata, Sranan yepi, Danish hjælpe, Luxembourgish hëllefen, Norwegian, nynorsk hjelpa, Low Saxon hölpen, Cimbrian hölfan.

Sample Sentences