Mes amis

1. He is a friend of mine.
2. Il est un de mes amis.

3. She is a friend of mine.
4. Elle est une de mes amies

How about the following?
Il/elle est ami du mienne.

Please tell me.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 9, 2009 at 7:23pm

Il/elle est ami du mienne.

Noppe, it doesn't make any sense.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 9, 2009 at 7:28pm

Thanks Frank

I wrote 'un', 'une'. Did you notice it?

I wrote even 'amis' and amies'. Are they fine? I was jut guessing.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 11, 2009 at 10:27am

Hello Crack,

"Il est un de mes amis" / "Elle est une de mes amies" is grammatically correct, and anyone can figure out the meaning. Although, probably for the sake of easier pronounciation, we would add a "l'" : "Il est l'un de mes amis", "Elle est l'une de mes amies".

However, I think this is a bit like "of mine" in English. This is something you read in books, textbooks and something you hear in songs, but in real speech, it's rarely used.

We would really just say "C'est un ami" / "C'est une amie".

An exception would be if you were telling a story, usually before "qui" :
C'est l'un de mes amis qui est allé chercher le chat qui était coincé en haut de l'arbre

but still, it doesn't bring much to the table over
C'est un ami qui est allé chercher le chat qui était coincé en haut de l'arbre

Unless the friend you are talking about is a celebrity, and you are proud of it ("Brad Pitt est l'un de mes amis"), saying "un de mes amis" even sounds a bit conceited.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 11, 2009 at 6:55pm

Thanks Frank

I am waiting a reply from you all for my other question which has the title 'La semaine dernière'.

Please look at it when possible.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 13, 2009 at 10:34am

Will do, Crack. I couldn't connect to the forum yesterday, please let me catch up.

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Permalink Reply by MikeGAlves on August 12, 2009 at 3:03pm

If you are looking for a variation of "Il est un de mes amis", you could also say "C'est un ami à moi"

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Permalink Reply by Pamela Kingfisher on August 12, 2009 at 11:22pm

Hi Mike, no you can't say 'C'est un ami a moi' and sound normal.
Refer to what Frank said above. Pam

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 13, 2009 at 10:42am

Well, "C'est un ami à moi" is something you can hear sometimes, before "qui" : C'est un ami à moi qui.... You can also hear Il y a un ami à moi qui...
But both sound pretentious and uneducated. In fact, it'd the case with any sentence including à moi. Sounds like "me, myself, I". Saying à moi doesn't make you sound more native, but you will be seen as a boasting hillbilly.