Мама помогла мне с ремонтом.

with

Breakdown of Мама помогла мне с ремонтом.

• помочь: to help
• мне: me
• ремонт: the renovation

Questions & Answers about Мама помогла мне с ремонтом.

What case is мне in and why is it not меня?

The pronoun мне is in the dative case because the verb помогла (“helped”) requires its indirect object—the person receiving help—to be in the dative. Меня is accusative and would be used for a direct object, which is not the structure of помочь.

Why is ремонтом in the instrumental case after с?

The preposition с meaning “with” takes the instrumental case. So ремонт (repair/renovation) becomes ремонтом. Together, с ремонтом literally means “with (the) renovation.”

Could you drop the preposition and say Мама помогла мне ремонт?

No. In Russian you must use с + instrumental when you mean “help with something.” Saying помогла мне ремонт sounds ungrammatical. If you want a different structure, you could say Мама помогла мне сделать ремонт (“Mom helped me to do the renovation”).

Why is the verb помогла perfective instead of imperfective помогала?

Perfective помогла portrays the action as completed: Mom did help and it’s a finished event. Imperfective помогала would imply an ongoing or habitual action (e.g. “Mom was helping me” or “Mom used to help me”).