Learn Hardcore Korean: jeoneun jaju chingureul dowajwoyo.

저 is the humble/formal pronoun for “I” used in polite contexts; 나 is the informal version you’d use with close friends or family. The particle -는 marks 저 as the topic of the sentence, indicating that what follows is information about “me.” In habitual statements (describing routines or regular actions), Koreans often use the topic marker -는 rather than the subject marker -가.

What does 자주 mean, and is its placement before the verb important?

자주 means “often” or “frequently.” In Korean, adverbs generally appear before the verb they modify—either right before the verb or after the topic/object. So in 저는 자주 친구를 도와줘요, 자주 comes before 도와줘요 to show how often the action happens. You could also say 저는 친구를 자주 도와줘요 without changing the meaning.

Why is 친구를 marked with -를 instead of -에게 or -한테?

-를 (object marker) indicates the direct object—the person or thing directly affected by the verb. With 도와주다 (“to help”), the person you help is the direct object, so you use 친구를 도와줘요. If you used 에게 (to) or 한테, it would feel like you’re giving something “to” a friend rather than directly helping them. (If you wanted to say “give help to a friend,” you could say 친구에게 도움을 줘요.)

What is 도와줘요, and why isn’t it 도와주어요 or 도와줍니다?

도와줘요 is the polite informal present-tense form of the verb 도와주다 (도와 + 주다 = “help + give”). Technically you’d form it as 도와주 + 어요, giving 도와주어요, but spoken Korean contracts that to 도와줘요.

도와주어요 is grammatically correct but sounds overly formal in conversation.
도와줍니다 uses the formal polite ending -습니다 (common in speeches, announcements, news), so it’s more formal than 도와줘요.

Can you omit 저는 in this sentence?

Yes. Korean often drops topic/subject words when the context is clear. You can simply say 자주 친구를 도와줘요 if it’s obvious you’re talking about yourself. Including 저는 adds clarity or emphasis on “I.”

How would you say “I often helped my friend” (past tense)?

Change the verb ending to the past tense -었어요. 도와줘요 → 도와줘 + 었어요 → 도와줬어요 (the 주 + 었어요 contracts). So you get:
저는 자주 친구를 도와줬어요.

How do you turn this into a question—“Do you often help your friend?”?

Keep the word order and add a rising intonation or question ending:

Polite informal: 자주 친구를 도와줘요?
Formal polite: 자주 친구를 도와주십니까?
Both mean “Do you often help your friend?”

Why is the verb placed at the end? Is Korean always Subject–Object–Verb?

Yes, Korean’s basic word order is Subject–Object–Verb (SOV). Adverbs like 자주 can come before the object or directly before the verb, but the verb almost always appears at the end of the clause. You could rearrange to 저는 친구를 자주 도와줘요 without changing the meaning—but the verb 도와줘요 stays last.