German verb · CEFR A1

helfen

Meaning in English: to help

Rank 404 of 5,000verbLevel A13 forms in the list
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Example

Kann ich Ihnen helfen?

Can I help you?

Forms of helfen in the top 5,000

German verbs change their ending with the person and tense, and each form is counted on its own. These forms of helfen are also in the top 5,000:

hilft#816
helpsA1

Mein Nachbar hilft mir beim Umzug.
My neighbour is helping me move.

geholfen#3,573
helpedA2

Danke, du hast mir sehr geholfen.
Thanks, you've helped me a lot.

How common is helfen?

helfen is number 404 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 219 times per million words — about once every 4,600 words.

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 56% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.

Next to it in the frequency list

  1. 400zuletztlast, most recently; finally
  2. 401eigentlichactually, really
  3. 402mindestensat least
  4. 403der MaiMay
  5. 404helfento help
  6. 405garat all (gar nicht); even
  7. 406bestenbest
  8. 407rechtright; quite, rather
  9. 408jedenevery (acc. masc.)

In these word lists

Translations, levels and examples were written with AI help and are awaiting review by a native speaker — how the list was made.