Usage of 手伝う and お手伝いをする


I want to say "If I can help with _your English studies_ ...".

I thought of three ways, none of which I'm sure is natural:

  1. 英語の勉強 **を手伝ってあげられたら**...
  2. 英語の勉強の **お手伝いをしてあげられたら**...
  3. 英語の勉強の **お手伝いができたら**...

I looked up the parts in bold on Google and got hardly any hits for 1. and 2.
So I tried 3., and that seemed a bit better.

So my question has three parts:

  1. Is there any difference between using nounを手伝う and nounのお手伝いをする?
  2. Is it weird to add てあげる to these constructions? Is the 'giving' part already implied because the verb is about helping?
  3. What are natural ways to say "If I can help you with _noun phrase_ "?




> _What are natural ways to say "If I can help you with_ noun phrase‍ _"?_

If I understand English correctly, this phrase should mean "if there is a
chance I am of help to you with...", but unfortunately, your Japanese
sentences mean "if I have enough ability to help you with..." In other words,
it presupposes somebody _does_ need help, rather than may or may not to. If
you do know well the specific people or situation that they must be in
trouble, then you can say that way and be a 気の利く thoughtful person, but
otherwise it could sound intrusive or even patronizing. You should instead
use:

> [noun phrase]でお手伝いできることが（あれば／ありましたら）…  
>  [noun phrase]でお手伝いが必要な時は…

to have the same connotation as your English. But I think I'd say:

> [noun phrase]で（お困りの／困った）ことがあれば…  
>  [noun phrase]で何かできることがあれば…

which are more or less idiomatic in Japanese.

> _Is it weird to add てあげる to these constructions? Is the 'giving' part
> already implied because the verb is about helping?_

Just for the same reason as above. If you're already sure they like it, or
they call for you to do something, you're fine to use ～てあげる. Otherwise you'll
risk being a busybody.

> _Is there any difference between using nounを手伝う and nounのお手伝いをする?_

The latter is a more polite (and often humble) way of saying with honorific
prefix お-. It must become お手伝い（を）する because *お手伝う is ungrammatical (cf. 書く →
お書きになる). By the way, お手伝い as a noun is indeed much more popular than the bare
手伝い. It's good to know that _domestic helper_ is traditionally called お手伝いさん.




> _What are natural ways to say "If I can help you with_ noun phrase‍ _"?_

If I understand English correctly, this phrase should mean "if there is a
chance I am of help to you with...", but unfortunately, your Japanese
sentences mean "if I have enough ability to help you with..." In other words,
it presupposes somebody _does_ need help, rather than may or may not to. If
you do know well the specific people or situation that they must be in
trouble, then you can say that way and be a 気の利く thoughtful person, but
otherwise it could sound intrusive or even patronizing. You should instead
use:

> [noun phrase]でお手伝いできることが（あれば／ありましたら）…  
>  [noun phrase]でお手伝いが必要な時は…

to have the same connotation as your English. But I think I'd say:

> [noun phrase]で（お困りの／困った）ことがあれば…  
>  [noun phrase]で何かできることがあれば…

which are more or less idiomatic in Japanese.

> _Is it weird to add てあげる to these constructions? Is the 'giving' part
> already implied because the verb is about helping?_

Just for the same reason as above. If you're already sure they like it, or
they call for you to do something, you're fine to use ～てあげる. Otherwise you'll
risk being a busybody.

> _Is there any difference between using nounを手伝う and nounのお手伝いをする?_

The latter is a more polite (and often humble) way of saying with honorific
prefix お-. It must become お手伝い（を）する because *お手伝う is ungrammatical (cf. 書く →
お書きになる). By the way, お手伝い as a noun is indeed much more popular than the bare
手伝い. It's good to know that _domestic helper_ is traditionally called お手伝いさん.

