If it had not been for your help

Question

I just encountered this sentence.

"If it had not been for your help, I would not have succeeded"

I learned "if it had not been for your help" means "if you haven't help me", but this is very hard to understand. Actually, this is one of those sentences which is very hard to understand for a non native English speaker.

How could 'if it had not been for your help' mean 'if you haven't help me'?

Can some one kindly explain to me?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

fort leeIf it had not been for your help

= If I had not had your help

There is no fixed paraphrase for the idiom "If it had not been for X". The basic idea has to be adjusted to fit the situation expressed by the sentence as a whole. The general idea is that the absence of X would have caused something.

If it had not been for WWII, Roosevelt's whole economic policy would have fallen flat. ~
If World War II had not occurred, the president's whole economic policy would have failed.
(The absence of WWII would have caused his policy to fail.)

If it had not been for my staff, I would have closed my company down. ~
If I had not had my staff, I would have closed the company.
(The absence of my staff would have caused me to close my company.)

If it had not been for the life rafts, the whole crew would have perished. ~
If the life rafts had not been available, the crew would have drowned.
(The absence of the life rafts would have caused the crew to lose their lives.)

If it weren't for X is also used with this meaning.

CJ

If it had not been for your help

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