Speaking English - How to talk about your friends

Hi, my name is Rebecca and in today's lesson we are going to learn a lot of words and expressions

to describe the relationship that you share with your friends.

So let's have a look, I've written them on the board so you can see and hear these words.

Alright?

So first let's look at some words, some adjectives that we can use to describe your friends.

Let's talk about the depth of relationship that you have with these friends first.

You could say "we are good friends", "we are close friends", "we are best friends" and

sometimes they also say "we are fast friends".

Now "fast friends" doesn't mean that you made friends quickly, it just means that you are

very close friends and good friends.

Alright?

So these words can describe the depth of your relationship.

These words here describe the character of your relationship.

For example, we are "he's a real friend" or "she's a true friend", "they are loyal friends".

Loyal is like faithful, okay?

Or "they are trusted friends", "we can trust them", "we can count on them", "we can rely

on them", okay?

Trusted friends.

These words in this section here tell you about the origin of your friendship.

For example, we are "school friends", this you might use to describe somebody who you

have known from the time you were young and in school together.

We are "childhood friends", that means you have known that person from the time you were

both children.

We are "family friends", that means not only do you know that person but your whole family

knows that person and you may know their whole family, alright?

And sometimes we also say "we are old friends".

Old friends doesn't mean that you or your friend is actually old, it just means that

you have known that person for a long time, whatever long time means for you.

If you are 20 years old, it's obviously not going to mean the same as if you are 60 years

old but old friends just means somebody, people who have known each other for a long time,

okay?

And the last category is maybe sometimes the most important part, this has to do with romance

and defining the level of romance or lack of romance in that relationship.

So if you say for example "we are just friends", that's important because you are explaining

that there is no romantic relationship between the two of you, there is no sexual relationship

between the two of you, you are just friends, alright?

Or if there is a romantic relationship, then you might say "he's my boyfriend" or "she's

my girlfriend", alright?

Now one other small point I should make, sometimes women refer to their close friends, their

close female friends as girlfriends also and that doesn't have to imply any romantic relationship,

it's just like saying "she's my friend" or "she's my girlfriend" but it just means when

women talk about each other as friends, okay?

Alright, so those are some useful adjectives that you can use to describe your friends.

Now let's look at some expressions that exist regarding friends.

We have here "fair-weather friend", now what's a fair-weather friend?

It may sound like something nice but actually it's not really something nice at all.

A person who is a fair-weather friend is the kind of person who only wants to know you

and hang around with you and associate with you and be your friend when things are going

well for you.

But if you have a problem or you need something, then this friend is nowhere to be seen.

So a fair-weather friend is only a friend when everything is going well for you, only

when the weather is fair in other words, okay?

So a fair-weather friend is not the kind of friend you really want to have, you want a

friend who will be there for you at all times.

This might be a little bit confusing for those who are not familiar with it, this is an expression

called "man's best friend" and do you know who or what man's best friend is?

In English, when we say man's best friend, we are referring to a dog, alright?

A dog.

Many people consider a dog a wonderful pet because it's considered man's best friend

for various reasons, okay?

Dog lovers will tell you all about the reasons why they love their dogs and they consider

their dog like man's best friend, alright?

But that expression does refer to a dog.

Alright, another expression is "friends in high places".

Now what do we mean when we say "friends in high places"?

It means that someone knows people who are in important positions, who can help you to

achieve something or accomplish something or get something done, usually in a bureaucracy

or in politics or something like that.

So if you want some help, it might be useful to have friends in high places or influential

positions, alright?

And the last expression is called "circle of friends".

So for example, someone who has a lot of friends, you might describe as having a wide circle

of friends.

"Circle of friends" just means a group of friends, but it's a nice little expression

to use.

Next, we'll be looking at some verbs and sayings to do with friends.

Okay, so let's start with the verbs we can use with the word "friends".

You could say "to make friends".

So for example, when a child comes home from school, let's say on the first day, the mother

might ask her child, "Did you make any friends today?", right?

So we do use this word with friends.

A more formal term is actually "to befriend someone".

"He befriended me" means that he became friends with me.

It's not used so much in normal conversation, more in writing perhaps.

Alright, you could also say "to be friends".

So by that I mean, you would say, "We are good friends, we are close friends, we are

old friends, we're childhood friends", right?

That's the place where you can use those adjectives that I gave you earlier, alright?

You could also say "to have many friends".

So you could say, "He has many friends in school", alright?

Let's say a child, the mother asks, "Did you make any friends today?"

After a little while, "He has many friends", alright?

So you could also use those basic verbs with the word "friends".

Now, of course, in our Facebook world, we actually have a new verb and we use the word

"friend" as a verb, "to friend someone" on Facebook, right?

You probably might be doing that.

So we actually have made a verb out of the noun "friend", "to friend someone", okay?

And in that context, you might want to separate the two words "friend" and "acquaintance".

So an acquaintance is simply someone, either on Facebook or in real life, an acquaintance

is someone you know, but you don't have a close relationship with them.

You just know them or you've been introduced to them, but they're not good friends or close

friends with you, okay?

So that's the word "acquaintance", alright?

Now let's look at a couple of sayings that we have about friends or friendship.

So one is, "A friend in need is a friend indeed", alright?

A friend in need is a friend indeed, and what that means is that someone who sticks by you,

who stays by your side and helps you when you need something, is a true friend, is a

real friend, alright?

And that's what that saying means.

So for example, if you say that Mary was sick all of last week and her friend Jane helped

her out by taking her children to school, and a friend in need is a friend indeed, alright?

So that would be appropriate in that context.

Also we have this expression, which is kind of the opposite, "With friends like that,

who needs enemies?"

Now obviously that doesn't sound positive, and it's not positive.

So when we say, "With friends like that, who needs enemies?" it means that someone has

behaved towards you in a manner which is very unfriendly or not nice, alright?

So for example, "When she told my boyfriend that I was not attractive, I said to myself,

'With friends like that, who needs enemies?'"

Alright?

That's an example of how you could use that one, alright?

A couple of other expressions that we sometimes have are "to form a friendship", "to develop

a friendship".

You could use many other expressions with a friendship, okay?

To break a friendship, to destroy a friendship, alright?

To build a friendship.

Lots of other vocabulary words that you can use with friends or friendship.

So if you'd like to do a quiz on this topic, please go to our website, www.engvid.com.

I hope you have lots of good, close, trusted friends through your life, alright?

Thanks for watching.

Bye for now.