I was reading Cassy's lesson from yesterday about saying excuse me to people having trouble, and it occurred to me how strange it is that we say sentences like this in Japanese:

（すみません、）手伝いましょうか？
（すみません、）てつだいましょうか？
(Excuse me,) can I help you?
Literally: "(excuse me +) shall I help + か"

Teaching English to Japanese students, they use "Shall I ~" all the time, and it seems that this grammar point is at least partially responsible.

Let's continue with this verb, 手伝う（てつだう / "to help (out)"）.

手伝いましょう（てつだいましょう） is technically the volitional form of this verb (i.e. "let's VERB").

So, for example, if I were with you, and we saw an old man having trouble carrying a big box, I could turn to you and say:

手伝いましょう。
てつだいましょう。
Let's help him.
Literally: "Let's help (out)."

Then if we add a little か to the end, the "let's" becomes "shall I/we," like this:

手伝いましょうか。
てつだいましょうか。
Shall we help him?
Literally: "Let's help (out) + か."

This conjugation is formed by taking the ます-form of a verb, then changing the final ～す to ～しょう.

Like this:

手伝う　（てつだう / "to help (out)"）
⇣　⇣　⇣
手伝います　（てつだいます // "help; will help"）
⇣　⇣　⇣
手伝いましょう　（てつだいましょう // "let's help"）
⇣　⇣　⇣
手伝いましょうか　（てつだいましょうか // "shall I/we help?")

OK, OK... that all seems fairly straightforward. I guess.

There's just one problem:

I never say "shall" in English! But then, maybe my English is messed up or something.

If I were really translating that last sentence, I might say:

手伝いましょうか。
てつだいましょうか。
Should we help him?
Literally: "Let's help (out) + か."
Note: If you're saying it to the person needing help, it'd be something like, "Can I help you?" or "Would you like some help?" which is why Cassy translated it that way yesterday.

Getting to the point, today's lesson is about:

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Offering to Help People

Specifically, I want to look at:

1) Shall I help you?
2) If you'd like, I'll help you.
3) Want me to help you?
4) I'll help you.
5) I'll (be extra nice and) help you.

That might sound like a lot, but I'll try to keep it relatively simple.

---

1) Shall I help you?

This is the one we saw above.

Situation A

(　↥　↥　This photo is of me lugging everything Rei and I own across Nakajima Park in Sapporo... the morning we left for Vietnam!)

Let's say that you're traveling with your new in-laws who, for one reason or another, speak Japanese.

The inexperienced travelers that they are, they have all sorts of heavy, unwieldy bags and boxes, which are not easy to carry.

Seeing this, you offer to carry some or all of these bags and boxes.

Specifically: "Shall I carry (that) for you?" // "Would you like me to carry that for you?"

In Japanese, that's...

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

Bonus Hint!

The verb for "to carry," in this case, would be 持つ（もつ）.

[Thinking Space (cont.)]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣
[Answer Time!]

持ちましょうか？
もちましょうか？
Shall I carry this (that)? // Would you like me to carry this (that)?
Literally: "let's carry + か."

If you're right next to the object in question (i.e. leaning down to pick it up), you could also say:

これ、持ちましょうか？
これ、もちましょうか？
Shall I carry this? // Would you like me to carry this?
Literally: "this + let's carry + か."
Note: Your Japanese teacher will tell you that, grammatically speaking, there should be an を instead of a comma here. They're technically right, but in my experience it's more common to drop this particle here.

Or if they're closer to the object than you are, you could (point to it and) say:

それ、持ちましょうか？
それ、もちましょうか？
Shall I carry this (that)? // Would you like me to carry this (that)?
Literally: "that + let's carry + か."

I usually leave out words like これ and それ, as context tends to make it pretty clear that I'm talking about the heavy bag or box they're lugging around.

By the way, this exact situation occurred countless times while Rei and I were traveling around South Korea with her family... although usually I used #4, as I was speaking casual language with her family by then.

Situation B

Let's say that you're just starting a new job in Tokyo.

You're about to go over some documents with a coworker, but the room is a little too dark.

You could say...

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

Bonus Hint!

The phrase for "to turn on lights" is 電気をつける（でんき　を　つける）.

And the word for "dark" is 暗い（くらい）.

[Thinking Space (cont.)]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣
[Answer Time!]

暗いですね。電気つけましょうか。
くらい　です　ね。　でんき　つけましょうか。
It's dark in here. Shall I turn on the lights? [How about I turn on the lights?]
Literally: "dark + is + ね. + electricity + let's turn on + か."
Note: Again, grammatically speaking there should be an を after 電気, but it's quite common to drop it. Also, this is one of the 84,291 (or so) uses of the verb つける. Get used to just memorizing this verb in varying contexts. Oh and since we have ね on the end of 暗いですね, I suppose we could also translate this (a bit more literally) as "It's dark, isn't it?"

Nice. Let's keep moving.

---

2) If you'd like, I'll help you.

#1 and #2 are our polite ways to offer help.

The formula for #2 is:

よかったら　～しますよ
If you'd like, will do ~.

Translated directly, よかったら means "if it is good."

いい (good)
⇣　⇣
よかった (was good)
⇣　⇣
よかったら (if/when it is/was good)

Translated somewhat more naturally, we just say "If you'd like." It's quite useful for polite constructions.

Using the ます-form after it, plus よ, just means "will VERB." Adding the よ adds the nuances that you're providing new information to the listener. In other words:

よかったら、Ａ しますよ。
If you'd like, I will do A.

Let's look at how it does (or does not) fit with the situations discussed so far...

Situation A

We want to say:

"If you'd like, I'll carry this/that for you."

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

よかったら、持ちますよ。
よかったら、もちますよ。
If you'd like, I'll carry this [that] for you.
Literally: "if it's good, + will carry + よ."

Next we have...

Situation B

We want to say:

"It's dark (in here). If you'd like, I'll turn on the lights."

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

✖　暗いですね。よかったら、電気つけますよ。
✖　くらい　です　ね。　よかったら　でんき　つけます　よ。
✖　It's dark in here. If you'd like, I'll turn on the lights.
✖　Literally: "dark + is + ね. + if it's good + electricity + will turn on + よ."

That one doesn't really work.

Can you guess why?

The problem is with this よかったら.

Since we use this phrase when giving someone something (or some action), the nuance is, "If you'd like, I'll turn on the lights for you."

But the "dark room" is a problem for me, too. So it doesn't really fit (as opposed to the mutually beneficial, "Shall I turn on the lights?" 電気つけましょう。

So let's make change this sentence like this:

〇　暗いですね。あああ電気つけますね。
〇　くらい　です　ね。　でんき　つけます　ね。
〇　It's dark. I'll turn on the lights.
Literally: "dark + is + ね. + electricity + will turn on + ね."

The nuance here isn't that you're doing the listener a favor.

You're just saying, "Hey, I'm gonna turn on the lights!"

---

3) Want me to help you?

So far we've seen these verbs in the volitional form:

手伝いましょう　（てつだいましょう / "let's help (out)"）
持ちましょう　（もちましょう / "let's carry"）
電気をつけましょう　（でんき　を　つけましょう / "let's turn on the lights"）

Putting that into casual volitional, we get:

手伝おう　（てつだおう / "let's help (out)"）
持とう　（もとう / "let's carry"）
電気をつけよう　（でんき　を　つけよう / "let's turn on the lights"）

Rather than a stiff, formal, "Shall I help you?" we can also use the casual volitional for a more intimate "Want some help?"

Examples...

Situation A

We want to casually say:

"Want me to carry this/that?"

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

持とうか？
もとうか？
Want me to carry that?
Literally: "let's carry + か."

For an added bonus, check out this question on the Japanese version of Yahoo! Answers, where a girl is asking how she should respond if/when a guy asks her this question.

Situation B

We want to casually say:

"It's dark (in here). Want me to turn on the lights?"

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

暗いね。電気つけようか。
くらい　ね。　でんき　つけようか。
It's dark. Want me to turn on the lights?
Literally: "dark + ね. + electricity + let's turn on + か."
Note: We dropped both ですね after 暗い and the を after 電気, because we cut out as many words as possible in casual Japanese! Be careful with the intonation on this one. You do NOT use rising intonation (like with a question). I suppose it's because the nuance is that you're partially talking to yourself and partially talking to the listener.

For tons of uses of casual volitional, check out Lessons #52, #53, #54, and#55.

Almost finished.

Hang in there!

---

4) I'll help you.

Earlier we had:

よかったら　～しますよ
If you'd like, will do ~.

This よかったら is intrinsically formal/polite, so I'm going to drop it.

And instead of しますよ we can use the casual するよ.

Situation A

We want to casually say:

"I'll carry this/that for you."

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

持つよ。
もつよ。
I'll carry this [that].
Literally: "carry + よ."

So simple! Yay!

Also OK, as we mentioned earlier:

これ持つよ。
これもつよ。
I'll carry this.
Literally: "this + (will) carry + よ."

それ持つよ。
それもつよ。
I'll carry that.
Literally: "that + (will) carry + よ."

Situation B

We want to casually say:

"It's dark (in here). I'll turn on the lights."

[Thinking Space]
　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

　⇣　⇣　⇣　⇣

暗いね。電気つけるね。
くらい　ね。　でんき　つける　ね。
It's dark. I'll turn on the lights.
Literally: "dark + ね. + electricity + (will) turn on + ね."
Note: Like the earlier example, we're switching out よ with ね.

We're pretty much finished, but there is one more way to offer help...

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5) I'll (be extra nice and) help you.

We sometimes use "て-form + あげる" when saying "I'll VERB for you."

Like this:

持ってあげるよ。
もって　あげる　よ
I'll carry that for you.
Literally: "carry and + give (you) + よ."

手伝ってあげるよ。
てつだって　あげる　よ。
I'll help you.
Literally: "help (out) and + give (you) + よ."

The nuance of this grammar is tricky, though, so I'm going to take a detailed look at it tomorrow.

---

Uh... how do we answer these questions?

Good question.

For the sentences about carrying bags, for example, for "Yes," you could say:

ありがとう（ございます）。
ありがとう（ございます）。
Thank you.
Note: Dropping the ございます makes it less polite.

For "No," you could say:

大丈夫（です）。ありがとう（ございます）。
だいじょうぶ　（です）。　ありがとう　（ございます）。
That's all right. Thanks anyways.
Literally: "OK / all right (+ is). + thank you"
Note: Feel free to drop the です and ございます in casual sentences.

Peace out!

I hope this lesson was "helpful." ^_^