# vriend/vriendin



## Lucinda131

Hoi 

I know 'vriend' and 'vriendin' mean 'a male friend' and 'a female friend' respectively, and they can also mean 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' (I think - this is the case in German, at least, as far as I know).
Do you work this out from the context, whether it refers to a friendship or relationship?

Bij voorbaat dank,

Lucinda


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## Suehil

Generally, if you say 'een vriend' then it is a friend, if you say 'mijn vriend', then it is your boyfriend.  (And obviously the same goes for the feminine version )


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## Beninjam

From context and non-verbal communication.


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## NewtonCircus

Dag Lucinda

I summarised it in the following table:

Male saying: 
a)_ mijn vriendin_: Girlfriend
_b) een vriendin:_ Female friend
_c) een vriend:_ Male friend
_d) mijn vriend:_ Male friend, unless they are in a same gender relationship

Female saying: 
a) _mijn vriend_: Boyfriend
_b) een vriend:_ Male friend
_c) een vriendin:_ Female friend
_d) mijn vriendin:_ Female friend, unless they are in a same gender relationship

Groetjes Herman


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## Lucinda131

Hartelijk dank for all your answers, especially the table!  but if someone says 'I've had a 'friend' for a while' (ik heb een tijdlang een vriend/in gehad?) I'd assume that was referring to a boy/girlfriend, right?


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## AllegroModerato

Lucinda131 said:


> Hartelijk dank for all your answers, especially the table!  but if someone says 'I've had a 'friend' for a while' (ik heb een tijdlang een vriend/in gehad?) I'd assume that was referring to a boy/girlfriend, right?



Right.


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## AllegroModerato

NewtonCircus: I think there´s a tendency to avoid "mijn vriend/in" when referring to friends. I at least would be more inclined to say "een vriend van mij".


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## NewtonCircus

Dag Lucinda 



Lucinda131 said:


> Hartelijk dank for all your answers, especially the table! but if someone says 'I've had a 'friend' for a while' (ik heb een tijdlang een vriend/in gehad?) I'd assume that was referring to a boy/girlfriend, right?


I was afraid that you were going to ask that question. 



AllegroModerato said:


> Right.


I am not really convinced. When you use _vriend(in_) like that, there is a lot of room for ambiguity and you may indeed assume that it means boy or girlfriend, it is still an assumption. To add some spice here, it is perfectly possible that a promiscuous person could call (one of) his/her side dish(es) _een vriend ._

If you really want to avoid ambiguity you can you change the order of words as *AllegroModerato* mentioned. Very unlikely that somebody would mistake _een vriend van mij_ for a boyfriend.

To avoid ambiguity the other way around you can use the word _lief_ instead. In my heydays the word _vrijer_ was used as well. However, the meaning of this word changed over time and is nowadays closer to “playmate” or “loverboy” .

Groetjes Herman


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## Lucinda131

I love NewtonCircus's terms 'side dishes', 'playmate' and 'loverboy'! 

A really interesting discussion - dank jullie wel


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## LeRenardReynaerde

AllegroModerato said:


> NewtonCircus: I think there´s a tendency to avoid "mijn vriend/in" when referring to friends. I at least would be more inclined to say "een vriend van mij".


I'm inclined to do so as well.


NewtonCircus said:


> To avoid ambiguity the other way around you can use the word _lief_ instead. In my heydays the word _vrijer_ was used as well.



I absolutely love that expression, but bare in mind it's profoundly Flemish.

One last possibility is the diminutive '_vriendje/vriendinnetje_' though this is more used by children and (young) teens. It would be somewhat childish for an adult to refer to their partner as a '_vriendje/vriendinnetje_', unless a 'side dish' relation is meant. Although it might be used for a serious relationship, I personally think it is not very likely.

Parents with young children usually refer to their kid's friends as '_vriendjes_' or '_vriendinnetjes_' while meaning nothing more than that ' little friends'. 

A personal anecdote: I visited a friend a few months ago and his mother asked him whether '_zijn vriendje_' stayed for dinner. And I thought, 'Wait, what? This is going to be an awkward dinner.' and a few seconds later 'How old does she think we are, twelve?'.


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## HKK

LeRenardReynaerde said:


> I absolutely love that expression, but bare in mind it's profoundly Flemish.



If you're talking about _lief _then how about _liefje_? That's used in the Netherlands right?
If you're talking about _vrijer_, it's long dead in most of Flanders as well. I heard it from some West-Vlaams people though.


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## LeRenardReynaerde

HKK said:


> If you're talking about _lief _then how about _liefje_? That's used in the Netherlands right?
> If you're talking about _vrijer_, it's long dead in most of Flanders as well. I heard it from some West-Vlaams people though.



Liefje is indeed used in the Netherlands, mostly as a pet name though.


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## Zanjabeel

What about "mijn wederhelft" or "mijn partner" or "mijn levensgezel(lin), vrijer sounds very oubollig to me, something a senior would say refering to his or her lover..


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## LeRenardReynaerde

Zanjabeel said:


> What about "mijn wederhelft" or "mijn partner" or "mijn levensgezel(lin)


If they're married or living togehter on a permanent basis.


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