He's my boy friend, not my boyfriend!

orangina
July 27, 2010, 05:35 AM posted in I Have a Question

The 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?

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xiao_liang
July 27, 2010, 07:03 AM

我有一个朋友。。。是一个男人。。。

Safer all round right? :-)

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connie
July 27, 2010, 07:08 AM

男的朋友 is OK.

You can also say, 我有一个男性朋友。Wǒ yǒu yī ge nánxìng péngyou.

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orangina

谢谢!

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Edab

In fact,I can not distinguish boy friend,boyfriend.

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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.

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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