Friend or boyfriend?
As you already know, German language is super picky about people’s gender, e.g. you can hardly talk about someone without revealing if it is a male or female: ein Student, eine Studentin etc.
At the same time, quite surprisingly, German does not really make a strict distinction between a friend (one of many friends or acquaintances someone might have) and a boyfriend/girlfriend. All of these relationships are expressed by the same wordFreund for a male friend/boyfriend and Freundinfor female friend/girlfriend. The meaning usually depends on the context, so you have to pay close attention.
If someone saysSusanne ist meine Freundinor Erik ist mein Freundit might mean that they are in a romantic relationship. Or not. 😉
If people want to be really clear, they will say something like:
“Erik ist mein fester Freund” or “Sabine ist meine feste Freundin”
(Erik is my permanent friend) (Sabine is my permanent girl-friend)
