"학생들이 서로 도와줘요."
Translation:The students help each other.
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268
Basically the use of auxiliary verbs ~어/아 주다 (or Hon. ~어/아 드리다) is to soften the meaning of the sentence by giving it a more personal feel.
As Shreyas said 주다 means to give.
• 서로에게 도움을 주다 = To give help/assistance to each other
However, when used as an auxiliary verb, ~어/아 주다 stands for to do a favor/to render a service by ~, i.e.
• 서로 돕다 = To help each other
But
• 서로 도와주다 = Lit. To do each other a favor by helping each other out. => To lend each other a helping hand
268
personal view
"서로" implies plurality of the subject. So, why "-들"? The reason being is this particle, which stands for "every element of the given group is considered", indicates that the subject is a specific group of students justifying the use of the definite article "the".
• "Students help each other."
학생이 서로 도와줘요. => The people who help each other are students
학생은 서로 도와줘요. => Students, they help each other
• "The students help each other." (i.e. students from a specific group)
학생들이 서로 도와줘요. => The people who help each other are the students
학생들은 서로 도와줘요. => The students, they help each other
342
I've never heard this usage of ~주다 before. Many times I've heard a requestor use this form to make a request more polite. (Also, ~보다 when appropriate.) And I can see how this form can be used when speaking in the third-person ("Alice helped Bob"). But in this context is this form common? 저는 저를 도와줬어요. "I helped myself."?
268
Maybe
i. 자신에게 도움을 주다 - give help to oneself?
Or
자립적 이다 - be self-reliant?
ii. The problem with "help oneself" is it also has the sarcastic meaning of "take without permission" in English.
Not sure how this would be translated into Korean.
Grateful for feedbacks from Natives or Fluent speakers on above points.
268
서로 마주하다 to face each other
서로 사랑하다 to love each other
서로 다르다 to be different from each other
서로 경쟁하다 to compete against each other
etc.