Give someone a hand means to help them, usually with something practical: carrying bags, moving a wardrobe, getting ready for a party. It's informal and friendly: Can you give me a hand?
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give + person + a hand (with + noun/-ing); need a hand; give + person + a big hand; lend a hand
- My neighbour gave me a hand with the heavy shopping bags.
- Could you give me a hand moving the sofa this weekend?
- Let's give the volunteers a big hand for organising the festival.
What changed
First versionCan I give you a help with those bags?
RevisionCan I give you a hand with those bags?
Help isn't used as a noun after give in this way: give you a help isn't English. It's tempting to build a verb + noun phrase here, but in this structure the noun is hand. A help was replaced with a hand. You can also say it more simply: Can I help you with those bags?
Give someone a big hand means something completely different: to clap, to applaud. A host says it from the stage: Please give our next speaker a big hand! And give me your hand is literal: hold out your hand, for example to help someone step over a puddle.
Your turn
The bags were too heavy, so a stranger at the station ___ and carried one up the stairs for me.
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gave me a hand — The stranger carried a bag up the stairs, so he helped: gave me a hand. Gave me his hand would mean he held out his hand, and nobody would have carried the bag.
Describe how you helped someone. Say who it was and what exactly you helped them with.
Last Saturday I gave my grandmother a hand with her garden and planted twenty tulips.
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