As a favor, they want me to look after things.

As a favour, they gave us free parking.

they are asking you to do them a favour

the favour they are asking is to have you look after things. Without the context, it's not clear what those things could be. However, an example is friends going on vacation asking you to look after things at their home while they are away.

Oh, so the 2nd one also needs some corrections.
I thought it's error-less 'cause it had been written by a native speaker.
Thanks.

It's a shame I don't have the context either.

Let's just imagine those 'things' are lovely dogs,
and 'they' are my friends living next door.

Say, I love dogs. Well, I actually do.
And I've always wanted to play with the dogs, but I was too busy.

Then, my friends happen to have a long vacation, and I ask them,
'Well, could I please look after those dogs while you guys are away?'

And they say, 'Yes.' and I jump with joy.

Would the sentence 'As a favor, they want me to look after the dogs.' might make more sense now?


What about this one?

Say, I hate dogs.
Unfortunately, my friends about to go on vacation, ask me to look after those dogs. In this case, I can't say 'As a favor, they wanted me to look after
the dogs,' because I don't like to take care of the animals.

Am I right?

I wish I could explain better what I'd like to ask. Dang.
Anyway, I will be looking forward to seeing your reply.

no and no

______


do you understand the general principle of 'doing favours'?

you're doing very well but continue to have difficulty with idioms

I think it's the hardest part of learning another language. Vocabulary and grammar are comparatively simple.

The second sentence is a bit wordy, and could be put more succinctly, like ehBeth suggested, but it's perfectly acceptable and doesn't need corrections.

"the parking"

I don't think I've ever heard a native English speaker use that. Perhaps it's a regionalism?

It could be said in reference to a particular parking space or general parking area, which is one of the meanings of the word "parking" used as a noun, after all. The context or situation in which it's said would clarify the ambiguity. My thinking may be regional, however.

If it was 'the parking spot' I could see using "the", but then the rest of the sentence falls down .

It might be "regional".

You're right.

Let me get this straight.

They just asked me,
'Would you please do us a favor? I'd be grateful if you looked after those things.'

Is this similiar to the original sentence in its meaning?

I've believed that I'm very pretty much aware of the usage of 'do favours',
but now I'm beginning to think that probably I am not.

I obviously need to study harder.

Thank you so much, ehBeth.

it is very close

the piece that is slightly off is that you've added gratefulness, while what has happened is that they will now owe you a favour