To Help
To Save, To Rescue
transitive verb, ichidan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means help so the verb version is to help. Don't confuse this with 助かる which means "to be helped." You know that 助ける is "to help" because you're doing the helping. You know that you're doing the helping because you care (ける).
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
You need to help someone. Someone is hanging off a cliff and out of reach. They ask you, the person standing above them, to toss (たす) them a rope, but you refuse. "TOSS IT!" they yell. "I WILL NOT TOSS IT," you respond. You're a jerk.
私は、その馬を助けるために川に入りました。
I went into the river to help the horse.
お金が一円足りないんです。助けてもらえませんか？
I am one yen short. Can you help me?
あなたが、あの雨の日に助けてくれたおかげで、今の私がいます。
Thanks to you saving me on that rainy day, I am who I am today.