帮倒忙

幫倒忙

bāngdàománg

verb #15,806

Meanings

HSK 2

你别帮倒忙了，让我自己来吧。

Nǐ bié bāngdàománg le, ràng wǒ zìjǐ lái ba.

Stop making things worse - let me do it myself.

HSK 3

他本来想帮忙搬家，结果帮倒忙了。

Tā běnlái xiǎng bāngmáng bānjiā, jiéguǒ bāngdàománg le.

He meant to help with the move, but ended up making things worse.

grammar

帮倒忙 is a verb-object compound. 帮 (help) + 倒忙 (reverse/counterproductive busy-work). It's often used as 帮了倒忙 in past tense contexts.

usage

Used when someone's good intentions backfire. The tone is usually lighthearted or mildly exasperated, not accusatory.

帮 bāng

倒 dǎo

忙 máng