Breakdown of Он помог мне приподнять этот тяжёлый стол.
стол
table / desk
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
я
I
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
помочь
to help (perfective)
тяжёлый
heavy
приподнять
to lift slightly
Questions & Answers about Он помог мне приподнять этот тяжёлый стол.
How does the prefix при- change the meaning of the verb поднять here?
In Russian, the prefix при- can express the attenuative Aktionsart, meaning the action is done only slightly, partially, or for a very short time. Since поднять means to lift, adding при- creates приподнять, meaning to lift a little bit or to raise slightly.
Why is мне used here instead of the accusative меня?
The verb помочь (to help) and its imperfective pair помогать always govern the dative case. You are structurally giving help to someone. Therefore, я becomes the dative мне.
Is этот тяжёлый стол in the nominative case?
No, it is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb приподнять. However, for masculine inanimate nouns like стол, the accusative form is visually identical to the nominative. If the object were a feminine noun, you would clearly see the endings change.
Both помог and приподнять are perfective. Could we use the imperfective приподнимать here?
You would only use the imperfective приподнимать if the action were repeated or ongoing. Because this sentence describes a single, successfully completed event, both the main verb (помог) and the infinitive (приподнять) are in the perfective aspect.
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