کمک کردن is the ordinary Persian compound verb for “help, assist, contribute to.” کمک supplies the lexical meaning and کردن carries tense, person, negation, and mood. A full noun phrase naming the recipient normally follows به: به دوستم کمک کردم “I helped my friend.”
The task or domain can be introduced by در: در نوشتن گزارش به او کمک کردم “I helped her with writing the report.” Pronouns reveal extra flexibility: both به او کمک کردم / بهش کمک کردم and internal-clitic کمکش کردم are current. This does not make *دوستم را کمک کردم the neutral full-noun pattern. Persian clitics and full noun phrases do not always have identical surface marking.
Principal parts of the compound
| Form | Persian | Romanization | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | کمک کردن | komak kardan | to help |
| past base | کمک کرد | komak kard | کمک کردم |
| present base | کمک کن | komak kon | کمک میکنم |
| past participle | کمک کرده | komak karde | کمک کردهایم |
| imperative | کمک کن / کمک کنید | komak kon / komak konid | help |
| negative imperative | کمک نکن / کمک نکنید | komak nakon / komak nakonid | do not help |
Neutral compound forms normally omit affirmative بـ: کمک کنم، کمک کن. کمک بکن is possible (informal, emphatic), while negation regularly appears on the light verb: کمک نمیکنم، کمک نکردم، کمک نکنم. The two members remain separate words in standard orthography.
Core paradigm
| Person | Present indicative | Simple past | Present perfect | Present subjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | کمک میکنم | کمک کردم | کمک کردهام | کمک کنم |
| you (sg.) | کمک میکنی | کمک کردی | کمک کردهای | کمک کنی |
| he/she/it | کمک میکند | کمک کرد | کمک کرده است | کمک کند |
| we | کمک میکنیم | کمک کردیم | کمک کردهایم | کمک کنیم |
| you (pl./polite) | کمک میکنید | کمک کردید | کمک کردهاید | کمک کنید |
| they | کمک میکنند | کمک کردند | کمک کردهاند | کمک کنند |
همسایهها در روز اسبابکشی به ما کمک کردند.
hamsâye-hâ dar ruz-e asbâb-keshi be mâ komak kardand.
The neighbors helped us on moving day. (neutral standard)
ممکن است در تنظیم این دستگاه به من کمک کنید؟
momken ast dar tanzim-e in dastgâh be man komak konid?
Could you help me configure this device? (polite standard)
اگر امروز کمکم کنی، کار پیش از غروب تمام میشود.
agar emruz komak-am koni, kâr pish az ghorub tamâm mi-shavad.
If you help me today, the work will be finished before sunset. (neutral spoken standard; internal clitic)
The person helped: به + recipient
With a full noun phrase, the dependable neutral frame is به کسی کمک کردن. به marks the recipient or beneficiary of the assistance, not the task performed. Standard third-person pronouns are به او، به ایشان، به آنها; conversational Iranian Persian has بهش، بهشون (informal).
مدیر تازه به کارکنان بخش فروش کمک میکند.
modir-e tâze be kârkonân-e bakhsh-e forush komak mi-konad.
The new manager helps the sales-department staff. (neutral standard)
به او کمک نکردیم، چون خودش درخواست نکرده بود.
be u komak na-kardim, chun khod-ash darkhâst na-karde bud.
We did not help him because he had not asked. (neutral standard)
برای کسی کاری کردن means “do something for someone” and may describe a favor, but it is not a simple replacement for به کسی کمک کردن. Compare به سارا کمک کردم “I assisted Sara” with برای سارا بلیت خریدم “I bought a ticket for Sara.”
The task: در + noun or verbal noun
The domain of assistance commonly follows در: در کار، در پژوهش، در حل مسئله، در نوشتن نامه. A long infinitive behaves like a verbal noun after در. Both complements can occur together, and their order is flexible when context remains clear.
یکی از همکاران در آماده کردن گزارش به من کمک کرد.
yeki az hamkârân dar âmâde kardan-e gozâresh be man komak kard.
One of my colleagues helped me prepare the report. (neutral standard)
داوطلبان در توزیع غذا به کارکنان مرکز کمک کردهاند.
dâvtalabân dar towzi'-e ghazâ be kârkonân-e markaz komak karde-and.
The volunteers have helped the center staff distribute food. (formal-neutral report)
When the helper and recipient jointly perform a concrete action, speech may prefer a finite construction instead of a heavy در + verbal noun phrase: کمکم کن این میز را جابهجا کنم. The recipient clitic names the person supported; the following subjunctive names that person’s intended action.
کمکم کن این جعبه را روی قفسه بگذارم.
komak-am kon in ja'be râ ru-ye qafase be-gozâram.
Help me put this box on the shelf. (neutral spoken standard)
Finite result and purpose clauses
کمک کردن تا/که + subjunctive explains the enabled result. With an overt recipient, Persian can say به او کمک کردم تا.... An inanimate subject may also “help” bring about a result: این تغییر کمک کرد تا هزینهها کاهش یابد. This latter pattern is common in formal and academic prose.
به پدرم کمک کردم تا درخواست را اینترنتی ثبت کند.
be pedar-am komak kardam tâ darkhâst râ interneti sabt konad.
I helped my father submit the application online. (neutral standard)
این تغییر کوچک کمک کرد که مصرف انرژی کاهش یابد.
in taghyir-e kuchek komak kard ke masraf-e enerzhi kâhesh yâbad.
This small change helped reduce energy consumption. (formal/academic)
کمک به + noun is also a productive nominal pattern in formal prose: کمک به کاهش مصرف “help toward reducing consumption.” It contains the noun کمک, not a finite verb, and should not be confused with the recipient phrase in a sentence such as به خانواده کمک کرد.
Internal object clitics
The person helped can appear as a clitic on کمک: کمکم کرد، کمکت میکنم، کمکشان نکردیم. This is highly current in speech and acceptable in neutral prose when the referent is accessible. The same clitic can alternatively follow به: به من کمک کرد / بهم کمک کرد. Internal placement is a property of the whole compound and does not license *سارا را کمک کرد as a corresponding full noun phrase.
وقتی تازه به شهر آمده بودم، خیلی کمکم کردند.
vaqti tâze be shahr âmâde budam, kheyli komak-am kardand.
When I had just arrived in the city, they helped me a lot. (neutral spoken standard)
نگران نباش؛ در پیدا کردن نشانی کمکت میکنم.
negarân na-bâsh; dar peydâ kardan-e neshâni komak-at mi-konam.
Don’t worry; I’ll help you find the address. (neutral spoken standard)
Do not add را after the internal clitic in this meaning: کمکش کردم, not *کمکش را کردم. For the general architecture, see Clitics inside Light Verb Constructions.
کمک as a noun
Outside the compound, کمک is an ordinary noun: درخواست کمک، نیاز به کمک، کمک مالی، کمکهای اولیه. A possessive clitic is then genuinely possessive. In کمکش را فراموش نمیکنم, ـش means “his/her” and کمکش را means “his/her help”; in کمکش کردم, the same surface clitic is the person helped. The following predicate and را distinguish the analyses.
کمکهای همکارانم را در آن روز سخت فراموش نمیکنم.
komak-hâ-ye hamkârân-am râ dar ân ruz-e sakht farâmush nemi-konam.
I will not forget my colleagues’ help on that difficult day. (neutral standard; کمک as a noun)
یاری دادن and formal alternatives
یاری دادن means “aid, assist” (formal/literary) and can take the person as a direct را-marked object: او را یاری دادند. یاری رساندن به is common in elevated institutional prose. These are not more polite versions of everyday کمک کردن; they are register choices and can sound ceremonious in casual conversation.
راهنمایان محلی گروه پژوهش را در گردآوری دادهها یاری دادند.
râhnamâyân-e mahalli goruh-e pazhuhesh râ dar gerdâvari-ye dâde-hâ yâri dâdand.
The local guides assisted the research team in collecting data. (formal/literary)
این صندوق به خانوادههای آسیبدیده یاری میرساند.
in sanduq be khânevâde-hâ-ye âsib-dide yâri mi-resânad.
This fund provides aid to affected families. (formal institutional)
Tehran conversational forms
Everyday Tehran has کمک میکنه، کمک میکنین، کمک میکنن and prepositional بهم، بهت، بهش، بهمون، بهتون، بهشون (informal, regional: Tehran). Internal کمکم، کمکت، کمکش is equally ordinary. Full را still does not become the default marker for a named recipient.
میشه یه دقیقه بهم کمک کنی؟
mi-she ye daqiqe beh-am komak koni?
Can you help me for a minute? (informal, regional: Tehran)
Common Mistakes
1. Giving a full recipient را
❌ همکار تازه را کمک کردم.
Incorrect in neutral modern Persian — a full recipient normally follows به.
✅ در هفتهی اول به همکار تازه کمک کردم.
dar hafte-ye avval be hamkâr-e tâze komak kardam.
I helped the new colleague during the first week.
2. Treating the task as a direct object
❌ تکلیف برادرم را کمک کردم.
Incorrect — the task normally follows در, while the person helped follows به or appears as a clitic.
✅ در حل تمرینهای ریاضی به برادرم کمک کردم.
dar hall-e tamrin-hâ-ye riyâzi be barâdar-am komak kardam.
I helped my brother solve the math exercises.
3. Adding را after an internal recipient clitic
❌ دیروز کمکش را کردم.
Incorrect for ‘I helped him/her’ — the internal clitic already realizes the recipient.
✅ دیروز در مرتب کردن انبار کمکش کردم.
diruz dar morattab kardan-e anbâr komak-ash kardam.
Yesterday I helped him or her organize the storeroom.
4. Putting negation on کمک
❌ نمیکمک کنم این مسئله حل شود.
Incorrect — negation and person marking belong on کردن.
✅ بدون اطلاعات بیشتر نمیتوانم کمک کنم.
bedun-e ettelâ'ât-e bishtar nemi-tavânam komak konam.
I cannot help without more information.
Key Takeaways
- Inflect کردن: کمک میکنم، کمک کردم، کمک کردهام، کمک کنم.
- A full recipient normally takes به; the task or domain commonly takes در.
- Pronouns allow both prepositional بهش کمک کردم and internal کمکش کردم.
- A following تا/که + subjunctive can state the enabled result.
- یاری دادن and یاری رساندن are formal or literary alternatives, not everyday replacements required for politeness.
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