He's my boy friend, not my boyfriend!
orangina
July 27, 2010, 05:35 AM posted in I Have a QuestionThe above is a quote from an arguement I had with my older sister when I was 5 years old. In order to avoid having this argument again, I would like to know what to call a man friend with whom I am not romantically involved... If I say 我有一个男的朋友。。。would that be understood because of the 的？Is there a better way to say it?
orangina
谢谢！
Edab
In fact,I can not distinguish boy friend,boyfriend.
bababardwan
Edab,
Connie above has given the Chinese way to distinguish between the two. In English the difference is that "boy [space] friend" is a friend who just so happens to be male [this is sometimes referred to as a platonic relationship...after Plato ] , and a "boyfriend" [no space you'll note] is a male you're romantically involved with.
alexyu_yxj
August 18, 2010, 05:36 AM我比较喜欢使用“女性朋友”和“女朋友”进行区别，呵呵
xiao_liang
July 27, 2010, 07:03 AM我有一个朋友。。。是一个男人。。。
Safer all round right? :-)