How to Talk about Friends in English

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We usually talk about our friends to introduce them or describe them to someone else. We typically share some information about our friends. Sometimes, we can’t decide what to say. In this post, I’ll discuss how you can talk about your friends to your other friends or someone else.

To talk about your friends in English, you may share the depth or level of your friendship and when, where, and how it began. In addition, you are expected to share your friend’s name, hometown, hobbies, appearance, and personality while talking about them.  

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The table below shows some words to describe your friendship’s depth, character, and origin.

Depth of the friendshipThe nature of your friendshipOrigin of your friendship
Good
Close
Best
Bosom
Bestie
True
Real
Loyal
Trusted
Faithful
Supportive
Easy-going
Caring
School
College
Childhood
Family
Old
Long-term

First, let’s see what you may say about your friends while introducing them to someone else. You can mention the depth (best, bosom, close, etc.) of your friendship or the origin of your friendship (school, childhood, family, etc.).

Later, we will explore other specific information you may share while describing or discussing your friend.

Talking about the Depth of Friendship in English

You may have so many friends, but are they all mean the same to you? No, I guess! The depth of friendship between you and your friend may vary. Among your close friends, one can be your best friend. Isn’t it?

Friends can be categorized as good, close or best, depending on the depth of friendship. While introducing your friend to someone else, you usually give some general information, especially the type of your friendship, considering the intensity of the bondage.

Let’s see some example sentences to talk about your friends. These sentences are usually used to introduce your friend to someone else.

  1. Hello, John. Meet my friend David. He is my best friend.
  2. Good morning everybody! Please allow me to introduce my bosom friend Rakib.
  3. Hi! This is Shazia. She is a very close friend of mine.
  4. Hey! Can you remember my bestie, Meera? I showed you her photos. So here she is to see you.
  5. What’s up, Roven? This is business partner colleague Kevin. He is also a very good friend of mine.

Besides introducing friends in their presence, sometimes we need to talk about our friends in their absence. Let’s see some example sentences you can use while describing your friends regarding the depth of your bondage.

  1. I was back from Switzerland yesterday. Patrick was my host there. He is my bosom friend working at a hotel in Geneva.  
  2. I am missing my best friend, Sam. I wish he were with us on this tour. We could have enjoyed it more as he is so funny.
  3. Richard is a very talented software engineer who works as a freelancer. We are very close friends. You can consult with him about your project.
  4. Let’s wait for my bestie Sheena. She is an excellent cook. I really love her dishes.
  5. Kibria and I have been good friends since childhood. We have a lot of good memories together.

So, whenever you talk about your friends to someone, you should mention how intense your friendship is. It’ll give people a good idea about your relationship with your friend.

Talking about the Nature of Friendship in English

The nature of friendship greatly depends on the nature of your friend. That means your friend’s characteristics determine your friendship’s character or nature. For example, you may consider someone loyal among your friends, while another friend may be supportive. Some would be caring, while others are easygoing.

Let’s see some example sentences that well describe the nature of friendship.

  1. Rakesh is a true friend of mine. He is my best well-wisher.
  2. I always find Stephen beside me when in need. He is a real friend.
  3. Loyalty is always a priority to me, and Marylyn is my most loyal friend of mine.
  4. Rebeca is the most trusted among all of my school friends.
  5. Kevin always inspires me in whatever I do. He is very supportive.
  6. I am really proud of Reeta and Joseph. Both of them are very easygoing.
  7. Whenever I feel alone and lost, I miss my childhood friend Eric. He was so caring and supportive.
  8. I have complete faith in my best friend, Sameena. She is just like my sister.

Talking about the Origin of Your Friendship in English

You can categorize your friends depending on when and where the friendship between you and your friend developed. That means the friendship’s origin can be considered when discussing your friends.

Some friends may be from your college, who you can call school friends, while others may be your childhood friend. Let’s see some example sentences that you can use to talk about the origin of the friendship between you and your friends.

  • Hello Ryan! Meet my friend Pritee. We have been friends since our school days.
  • Shakib is my childhood friend. We have a lot of sweet memories together.
  • Mrs. Watson is very close to all of us. She is our family friend.
  • Jock is a very old friend of mine. It’s been so many years since we have been friends.
  • I am happy to introduce my long-term friend Betty to all of you. She is an excellent singer. 

What Information to Share While Talking About Friends

There are different sorts of information that you can share while you talk about your friends. Here is a list you can check to pick ideas to talk about your friends with someone else. Later in the post, I’ll discuss them in detail, giving some more examples.  

Information to Share While Talking About FriendsExample sentences
NamesLet me introduce my best friend, Samanta.
AppearanceMy best friend Samuel is very handsome.
AgeKetty and I are of the same age. We are in our early thirties.
ProfessionPattrick is my very close friend. He is a very talented software engineer.
HometownShe is my bestie, Laura, from Atlantic City.   
NationalityRahat and Sanjana are very good friends of mine. Both of them are Bangladeshi. 
Hobbies & interestsMeet my school friend Eric. He is also very interested in cricket.
Impressive qualitiesI like my friend Kabir most among all of my friends because of his intelligence and punctuality.
PersonalityMy childhood friend Charles is a bit introverted. But he is a very good human being. 
First meeting placeI first met Keith at the City University of London. We both were doing our graduation there.
Things you do togetherAnthony is an old friend of mine. We go cycling together on weekends.

Let’s see some more examples and talk about how to appropriately share the above information about your friend with someone else.

Sharing Names of Your Friend

The name comes first when you talk about someone or introduce them to someone else. Considering the context: formal and informal, the way to mention one’s name may vary. However, the context is usually informal when you talk about your friends. So you can speak casually.

If you introduce your friend to your other friends, mentioning the first name only is absolutely fine. This is the way to introduce someone in an informal setting.

Let’s see some examples of mentioning your friend’s name while talking about them.

  • He is William, my best friend.
  • This is William, my best friend.
  • Meet my best friend William.
  • Let me introduce my best friend, William, to you.
  • Hey Jacob, can you remember my friend William? He is coming today to my place.
  • Please allow me to introduce William, my best childhood friend.

Talking about Your Friend’s Profession

Someone’s profession is a significant part of their identity. From one’s profession, you can guess the lifestyle of a person. However, while talking about your friend’s profession, you may have different purposes.

Sometimes, it can be just letting other people know about your friend or looking for a scope to ask for a job opportunity for your friend.

Remember! Be very sure and specific when you talk about your friend’s profession with someone else. Don’t say anything out of your guess. This may mislead the person you are talking to and lead you and your friend to an embarrassing situation.

 There are different ways you can talk about your friend’s profession. Let’s see some examples.

  1. My friend William is a writer by profession.
  2. Jacob, my best friend, works as a restaurant manager.
  3. My best friend Laurna is in the sales department of a big corporation.
  4. Fredrick teaches at a high school in Ontario.  
  5. Abid is an SEO expert.

Describing the Appearance of Your Friend

We usually describe someone’s appearance while the person is not present in the context. So while talking about your friend in their absence, you can talk about their appearance to give the other person an idea about your friend.

You can use some adjectives to describe your friend’s overall outlook. Also, you can talk about their clothes or fashion sense and other features like overall build, height, complexion, etc.

Let’s see some example sentences that well describe your friend’s appearance.

  1. My best friend Jack is so handsome. He goes to the gym regularly.
  2. Simi is so pretty. She works as a model. We are good friends.
  3. James is my good friend. He is a bit stocky.
  4. Jovan is my childhood friend. He is of average height.
  5. My bestie Sophie has got long straight blonde hair.

How to Talk about the Age of Your Friend

Age is an essential feature in describing someone. However, you must be very careful while asking someone about their age and describing someone’s age since not everyone is comfortable talking or seeing someone talking about their age.

Remember! You must be tricky and polite while talking about someone’s age. Be sure you don’t offend your friend by talking about their age to someone else.

If it’s not mandatory to talk about age, avoid this. Let’s see some polite ways of talking about your friend’s age.

  • Ricky and I are of the same age.
  • We are in our mid-thirties.
  • Sara and I both turned forty this November.
  • Mira and I have very little age difference.
  • We were born in the same year, and it’s 1979.

Talking about the Hometown of Your Friend

While introducing someone or talking about them, along with other information, we usually talk about their hometown. This is because talking about the place where someone is originally from is a common interest among us while talking about someone.

Well! If you talk about your friend, you can certainly talk about their hometown. Here I give some example sentences to do it right.

  • Jim and I were born and brought up in our hometown, Newark.
  • Joseph’s hometown is Kolkata.
  • I had a great time in my best friend’s hometown, vineland.

Sharing Your Friend’s Nationality

The way you talk about your friend’s hometown, you can talk about their nationality too. The world is a global village. In the same country, people from different cultures live hand in hand.

Suppose you are Bangladeshi studying at an American University. You must find people from different countries studying at the same university. You see people from different nationalities, ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Some of them might be your good friends.

While talking about your friend’s nationality, you can either directly say where they are from or can talk about their culture a bit as well. Let’s see some examples.

  • Let me introduce my friend Jim. He is from Canada.
  • Meet my Bangladeshi friend Saqib. He is a good singer.
  • Raz and I are good friends. We both are Indian.
  • Isabella is my bestie. She is from Picasso’s land. I mean Spain.
  • This woman is my best friend, Julley. She is a native American.

How to Talk about Hobbies & Interests of Your Friends

Talking about common interests is the key to any good conversation. While you talk about your friend, you can talk about their hobbies and interest to give an overall impression of your friend’s likes and dislikes. 

Let’s see some examples.

  • This is Akib. My childhood friend. Though he is a doctor by profession, he loves to travel. He has traveled to so many places.
  • Meet my best friend, Andrea. He is interested in jazz.
  • Hi Sam! Reza and I both like bike riding on the highway. Will you join us on the next tour?
  •  What’s up, buddy? Can you remember my school friend Arian? He is also a passionate animator like you.  
  • My friend Freud is very good at playing cricket. So you both can play in the same team for the next inter-college tournament.

Talking about Qualities of Your Friends that Impress You

People are of different characteristics. Usually, we make those people our close ones, whose qualities impress us. You may have many friends, but you don’t like everyone for the same reasons.  

Maybe someone’s intelligence impresses you, while you admire another friend for their punctuality. Here I present some example sentences you can use to discuss your friend’s qualities.

  1. Abid is my close friend. He has a very good sense of humor.
  2. I really appreciate Joseph’s courage.
  3. Marry is a very sincere girl. We have known each other since our elementary school days. She is my bestie.
  4. I admire the way my friend Kriti is kind to people.
  5. Steve is so energetic. He can work for hours after hours without taking breaks.

Describing Your Friend’s Personality

One’s personality is usually built with the qualities they have. I already talked about how to talk about your friend’s qualities. Now, let’s see how you can talk about your friend’s personality.

  1. My friend Rachel is an introverted person.
  2. Noora is a brave girl. She can take care of her in every aspect.
  3. My friend Ritesh is so honest.
  4. Reza is a man of bold personality.
  5. My friend Lara talks less but works more. That’s her personality.

Talking about the Place You First Met Your Friend

School, college, office, and neighborhood are the common places where we meet new people and make friends. While talking about friends, mentioning the place and time you met your friend for the first time helps people understand the origin of your friendship.

Let’s see some examples.

  • I met my friend Sara at school. Since then, we have been friends.
  • Britney and I have been friends since our university time. We first met at the library.
  • We first met Akash in a seminar at Oxford in 2009. We have been friends since that day.
  • Arora is now our family friend. I met him at a family get-together.
  • Maria is my childhood friend. We have been living in the same neighborhood for the last 28 years.

Sharing Things You and Your Friend Do Together

The real beauty of friendship lies in doing things together. Depending on the friendship’s depth, nature, and origin, it may vary. Here are some examples of talking about something you do with your friends.

  • Rani and I watch movies in the cinema every week. We both are movie freaks.
  • Marlo is my best traveling partner. We have been friends since childhood.
  • Betty is my classmate and best friend. We study math together.
  • Both Monty and I love to play cricket. We won so many matches together.
  • Mira is a very good friend of mine. We share the same apartment. On the weekend, we cook delicious food together.

In Conclusion

While talking about friends, ensure you don’t share too much private information. Also, remember! It’s always better not to talk about any negative things about your friend while talking about them.

I have discussed several expressions here. You can comment below if you are still confused about asking someone for their help.

Thanks for reading.

Happy learning!

Niaj A A Khan is an ESL Instructor with over 8 years of experience in teaching & developing resources at different universities and institutes. Mr. Khan is also a passionate writer working on his first book, "Learn English at Ease."

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