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I have a question about the sentence from here.

I should've got you the help you needed years ago

Since "got" is the past participle of get, the sentence can be simply rewritten to "I get you the help".

It doesn't sound natural to me.

"I should've given you the help you needed years ago" sound more natural to me.

Is "got" similar to "given" in the sentence?

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Both "get help" and "give help" are correct but have slightly different meanings.

If you "give help" to a person, you personally aid them.

If you "get help" for a person, you find someone, or something else to aid them.

If you see someone with a cut you could give help (putting on a bandage) or get help (calling an ambulance)

So a teacher might get help for a student who is struggling with spelling by finding the school's dyslexia specialist and arranging individual lessons.

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  • Is it correct to say "I get you the help"?
    – novice
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 7:13
  • Yes - it means "I get the help for you".
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 9:02
  • Yes, but in conntext "I will get you help" is more likely (future tense, since this isn't likely to be always or generally true, and not "the")
    – James K
    Commented Feb 24, 2023 at 22:12

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