Learn Hardcore Chinese: chīwán wǎnfàn yǐhòu, tā chángcháng bāng māma xǐ wǎn, ràng māma hěn gāoxìng. - After dinner, she often helps her mom wash the dishes, which makes her mom very happy.

Also, note that 完 already shows the action is completed, so in many contexts you don't need 了 right after it. 吃完晚饭以后 already clearly means “after (she has) finished eating dinner”.

What does 以后 add in 吃完晚饭以后? Could I leave it out?

以后 (yǐhòu) literally means “after” / “afterwards”.

吃完晚饭以后 = after finishing dinner
If you drop 以后, you get 吃完晚饭, which can still mean “after finishing dinner” in context, but it’s less explicitly marked as a time clause.

With 以后, the structure is very clear: > [Time clause]， [main clause]
> 吃完晚饭以后，她常常帮妈妈洗碗。
> After finishing dinner, she often helps her mom wash the dishes.

You could omit 以后 in casual speech, but for learners it’s good to keep it because it marks the “after…” relationship very clearly.

Why is the time phrase at the beginning: 吃完晚饭以后，她常常…? Can I say 她吃完晚饭以后常常帮妈妈洗碗 instead?

Both are possible:

吃完晚饭以后，她常常帮妈妈洗碗。
她吃完晚饭以后常常帮妈妈洗碗。

Chinese often likes to put the time or setting at the beginning of the sentence. So starting with 吃完晚饭以后 is very natural: it sets the time, then tells what she does.

The second version is also correct and common. What you can’t easily do is break up the time phrase awkwardly, like:

✗ 她常常吃完晚饭以后帮妈妈洗碗 (understandable but clunky for many speakers)
✗ 常常她吃完晚饭以后帮妈妈洗碗 (word order feels off)

Safe patterns to remember:

[Time]，Subject + (Adv) + Verb…
Or: Subject + [Time] + (Adv) + Verb…

What exactly does 常常 do here, and where can it go in the sentence?

常常 (chángcháng) means “often” and is a frequency adverb.

In this sentence:

她常常帮妈妈洗碗。

The usual position is:

Subject + 常常 + Verb Phrase

So the most natural versions are:

吃完晚饭以后，她常常帮妈妈洗碗。
她吃完晚饭以后常常帮妈妈洗碗。

Putting 常常 before the subject (常常她…) or after the verb (她帮常常妈妈洗碗) is not natural. Stick with Subject + 常常 + Verb.

Why is there no extra subject before 帮? Why isn’t it 她常常她帮妈妈洗碗?

Chinese does not repeat the subject when it’s the same. Once you mention 她 (she), it stays the subject until context clearly changes it.

So:

她常常帮妈妈洗碗 = She often helps her mom wash the dishes.

Adding another 她:

✗ 她常常她帮妈妈洗碗

is ungrammatical and redundant. Think of it as:

她 (subject) + 常常 (adverb) + 帮妈妈洗碗 (verb phrase)

What’s the difference between 帮 and 帮忙? Could I say 她常常帮忙妈妈洗碗?

帮 (bāng) = “to help (someone do something)”
Pattern:

帮 + person + action
帮妈妈洗碗 = help mom wash the dishes

帮忙 (bāngmáng) works more like “to give help / to help (in general)”
Common patterns:

帮忙 + Verb/Clause
帮 + 人 + 忙 (帮他忙 = help him out)
帮忙一下！ = Give me a hand!

You cannot say:

✗ 帮忙妈妈洗碗

The correct options here are:

帮妈妈洗碗 (most natural)
帮妈妈的忙 (help mom out – no “洗碗” then)
帮忙洗碗 (help with washing dishes, no “妈妈” directly after 帮忙)

Why does 洗碗 mean “wash the dishes”? Doesn’t 碗 just mean “bowl”?

Literally:

洗 (xǐ) = wash
碗 (wǎn) = bowl

But in everyday usage:

洗碗 means “to wash the dishes” / “do the dishes” in general, not only bowls.

This is a verb–object phrase:

洗 + 碗 = wash dishes

It can include plates, bowls, chopsticks, etc., just like English “do the dishes” doesn’t only mean dishes literally.

What does 让 mean in 让妈妈很高兴? Is this passive voice?

Here, 让 (ràng) means “to make / to cause (someone to do/feel something)”.

In 让妈妈很高兴:

让 = make
妈妈 = mom (object of “make”)
很高兴 = very happy

So: > 她常常帮妈妈洗碗，让妈妈很高兴。
> She often helps her mom wash the dishes, which makes her mom very happy.

It’s not passive here. It’s a causative structure:

(Action)，让 + Person + Adj / Verb Phrase
洗碗，让妈妈很高兴。= Washing the dishes makes Mom happy.

Does 很 in 很高兴 really mean “very”? Why is it needed?

很 (hěn) literally means “very”, but in many simple sentences it acts more like a “linker” between the subject and an adjective, especially when you’re simply describing someone’s state.

Compare:

妈妈很高兴。
Natural; usually translated as Mom is (very) happy or just Mom is happy.
妈妈高兴。
Grammatically possible, but in modern Mandarin this can sound abrupt or contrastive, like “Mom is happy (as opposed to something else).”

So in: > 让妈妈很高兴。

很 softens it and makes it sound like a normal description: makes Mom (very) happy. In real translation, you often don’t emphasize “very” unless the context demands it.

Why is there no 了 anywhere? How do I know if this is about the past, present, or a general habit?

Chinese usually expresses habitual actions with frequency words instead of tense.

Here:

常常 (often) shows it’s a regular / habitual action.
So the sentence describes what she usually does after dinner, not one specific event.

Because it’s about habit, we normally don’t use 了, which is more about completed events or changes of state.

So the sentence is like: > After dinner, she often helps her mom wash the dishes; this makes her mom happy.

It could refer to past, present, or generally true routine; context outside the sentence would clarify time if needed.

Could I say 她常常帮她妈妈洗碗 instead of 帮妈妈洗碗?

Yes:

她常常帮她妈妈洗碗。

is grammatically correct: She often helps her mom wash the dishes.

Very often, when we say 妈妈, 爸爸, 奶奶, etc., in a simple story context, it is understood to be “her mom / his mom / my mom” from context. So dropping 她 is natural and slightly more concise:

帮妈妈洗碗 = help (her) mom wash the dishes.

Both are fine; which one you use depends on how clear the reference is from context.

Why isn’t there a 的 in 让妈妈很高兴? Why not 让妈妈的高兴?

In: > 让妈妈很高兴

妈妈 is the subject of the small clause.
很高兴 is the predicate (what she is like).

So this inner structure is essentially: > 妈妈很高兴。 = Mom is very happy.

You don’t use 的 between a subject and its adjective predicate.

的 is used for:

Attributive phrases: 妈妈的高兴的表情 (Mom’s happy expression)

But:

✗ 让妈妈的很高兴 is wrong.
✗ 让妈妈很高兴的 is incomplete as a sentence.

So 让妈妈很高兴 is the correct and natural pattern.

What does the last part ，让妈妈很高兴 attach to? Does it mean “which makes Mom happy”?

Yes. Structurally:

吃完晚饭以后，她常常帮妈妈洗碗，让妈妈很高兴。

You can think of it as:

After finishing dinner, she often helps her mom wash the dishes;
(This) makes Mom very happy.

The 让…很高兴 clause expresses the result or effect of the previous action. In English, you might translate this part as:

“which makes her mom happy”
“and that makes her mom happy”
“so her mom is very happy (because of this)”