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[xswt-cherryx.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have a question. I want to say 'I can help you (with english)' in russian, using vocabulary I know.
Would Я хочу помочь вас. or if order doesn't matter Я вас хочу помочь.
and then 'with english', по-ангийчески???? I have no idea!

Thanks in advance... I still might post later tonight or tommorow again.

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

I can help you is Я могу вам помочь (Я хочу помочь is "I want to help")

Я могу вам (тебе) помочь с английским.

[xswt-cherryx.livejournal.com]

opps! I meant to put the verb мочь, I understand.
And so вам would be in dative case... thank you.

[berillii.livejournal.com]

"Могу помочь" is composite predicate and, in my opinion, "могу помочь вам c..." sound better. But it isn't rule.

[berillii.livejournal.com]

I can help you with english - Я могу помочь вам с английским.

[khathi.livejournal.com]

1. You should use dative in such sentences, not accusative, so it must be "вам", not "вас".

2. While word order is rather free in Russian, and indeed means rather little grammatically, it still matters very much, as it is generally used as a method of semantical stress, with leftmost part stressed more. For example:

"Я хочу вам помочь" is a generic "I want to help you", while

"Я вам хочу помочь" is "It's you whom I want to help", and

"Я помочь вам хочу" is "I want to help you, not bother or smth."

3. Prepositions usually should be translated directly, if they not disappear in grammar change, so "with" is "с", and instrumental of "English" would be "английским".

[freiburg234.livejournal.com]

The rule is always use Russian aspect pair "помогать/помочь" with the dative.