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Please suppose a girl that has a compassionate friend who is older that she! The friend knows the girl well! Due to some problems the friend feels that her friend is getting emotionally very dependenat on her boyfriend! The friend is talking to the boyfriend now and she is giving some advices to him about the girl!

  • She is very sensitive; so treat her gently! Please remember that she is a super emotional girl, so be very considerate and don't depend her on yourself.
  • She is very sensitive; so treat her gently! Please remember that she is a super emotional girl, so be very considerate and don't depend her so much!

My question is that do the bold parts above sound natural and idiomatic?
I'm asking this question because when I was surfing on the Internet I couln't find any hit about it!

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  • Are both fragments in bold part of the text? Or they are alternatives for the same sentence?
    – virolino
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 11:29
  • @virolino they are some alternatives.
    – A-friend
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 11:34
  • Then it is better to edit the question and write it twice (keeping the bold text bold). Things will be obvious that way.
    – virolino
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 11:37
  • Don't depend her is entirely ungrammatical.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 19:29
  • @bassford this is why I've raised this question; we learners do not tend to inquire whether something is right or wrong most of the time! We ask a question to know an answer to it!
    – A-friend
    Commented Apr 2, 2019 at 19:34

2 Answers 2

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No, that is not a natural way of using the verb "depend." The problem is that you are not using the verb correctly. You are using "depend" as if it is a transitive verb. You can express the thought properly by altering things a bit.

Examples:

"Don't let her get dependent on you." (Here you are using dependent, the adjective.)

"Don't let her depend on you so much."

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"to depend on" has a meaning closer to the physical world.

In your example, the connection is at the psychological level, and therefore other words are more suitable.

One of them is to attach / attachment:

Do not let her get too attached, you might break her feelings / heart.

Some friend with a better background in the field might be able to provide an even better word.

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