Thread: my friend or friend of mine

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

Originally Posted by iriroma

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

I can definitely tell you at least one difference: I believe you can't address someone by "friend of mine".

(.....Hm...

Or.........?)

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by iriroma

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

I can definitely tell you at least one difference: I believe you can't address someone by "friend of mine".

(.....Hm...

Or.........?)

Yes, I mean... I talk about my friend or a friend of mine? Which of the possessives would be correct?

Originally Posted by iriroma

Which of the possessives would be correct?

Both.

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by iriroma

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

I can definitely tell you at least one difference: I believe you can't address someone by "friend of mine".

(.....Hm...

Or.........?)

Sure you can. It would sound a little old-fashioned, but it's perfectly acceptable.

Originally Posted by iriroma

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

Assuming that you attach an article (a, the, some, one, any, that, etc...) to the phrase "friend of mine", you can use them both interchangeably.

For instance:
"My friend went to the store," is the same as "A friend of mine went to the store."

Or:
"I've played this game with my friends," is the same as "I've played this game with some friends of mine."


The only difference worth noting is that the use of the word "of" in the phrase "friends of mine" makes it clear that these are not all of your friends, but only one of them, or some of them. Of course most people are wise enough to realize that "my friend" doesn't mean your only friend... however, it does tend to imply your main friend(s) or the one(s) you spend the most time with.

Hm... now it's much clearer for me. Thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by iriroma

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

In my opinion, I'm not sure there would be that much difference in the everyday use. However, as usual, there might be various levels of elegance that you could obtain, as in:

My friend’s friend is a good friend of mine.

Originally Posted by randem

Sure you can. It would sound a little old-fashioned, but it's perfectly acceptable.

Oh, so it's completely like Russian "друг мой" (as opposed to "мой друг").

Originally Posted by iriroma

Hi!
Can anybody tell me pls if there's any difference between "my friend" and "friend of mine"?

Hello!
I am not a native English-speaker, just a language lover, and I have been living in the US for about 10 years. Before answering your question, I consulted my English-speaking friend.

When you say "my friend", you mean a certain person. When you say "a friend of mine", you mean "one of my friends"; you don't specify any person in particular in this case.

Hope, it helps.