Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[erik19283]

Hello,

How can I say that someone is "John's friend" and also "my friend", all in one sentence?

1- He is John's and my friend.

2- He is John and my friend.

3- He is my and John's friend.

Is any of the three sentences above right? In my example, I want to use someone's name (John) instead of "his" with the idea that John is not here and I didn't talk about John previously.

Even is one of the sentences is ok, or actually good, could you give me another way, something more commonly said?

Thank you.

[alan.es]

No. 2 is incorrect.

1 and 3 are both OK.

other possibilities :

4. He is John's friend and mine also.

5. He is a friend of both John and me.

6. He is my friend and John's also.

[erik19283]

Thank you for your help.

I have a question about your answer.

Don't we say "He is a friend of mine"? Then, shouldn't it be "mine" instead of "me" in your sentence number 5?

[alan.es]

No, in this case 'me' is correct for no. 5.

You're quite correct that we say 'a friend of mine'.