"I was trying to help them."

Translation: Próbowałem im pomóc.

[moconnoma]

Why wasn't 'Starałem się im pomóc' acceptable?

[Jellei]

We didn't think about it earlier. It's a good option, added.

[deactivated user]

"próbowałam pomoc im"

why not accepted? because of the typo, or it really matters — " im pomóc" or "pomóc im"?

[Jellei]

It doesn't really sound natural to leave "im" at the end. Maybe when you stress "THEM!" instead of some other 'them', while pointing at the same time.

"I was trying to help the Smiths, not the Millers!" while pointing at Smiths.

[Milo605180]

What is wrong in: "Próbowałem pomagać im" ?

[Jellei]

Sounds as if you contrasted 'them' with someone else. Generally if only you have a possibility to avoid putting a pronoun at the end of the sentence, you should avoid it. That's why "Próbowałem im pomagać" is a lot better.

[AlisonSinc]

I've just had Próbowałem im pomagać rejected.

[AlisonSinc]

Why is only the feminine marked correct (masculine 'em' marked as typo). There's no indication of the feminine.

[Jellei]

Until a moment ago, "Próbowałam im pomóc" was the only starred answer, with "Próbowałem im pomóc" being just an accepted answer. I guess if your answer was rejected, then the algorithm corrected you to the only starred answer. But that doesn't mean that "próbowałem" was wrong.

As for "pomagać"... perfective "pomóc" seems a lot more probable to me, but I guess your answer can also work in some contexts, added.