What's the difference between 'my friend' and 'a friend'?

Question

A : What did you do on Sunday?
B : I went to a movie.
A : Who did you go with?
B : I went with my friend.

Is 'my friend' inappropriate?

What about this situation?

A is a teacher.
B is a student.

Answer 1

There is one other reason why a person would say "a friend" instead of "my friend" that I haven't seen mentioned here. When someone is asking you a question like that, inquiring about your whereabouts, etc., and you respond "I went (to a movie) with my friend," it implies you are ready to be explicit, to name the friend if asked, thereby giving the interrogator a means to verify your answer (if they want to go that far), and allaying any suspicion about whether you answered truthfully or not.

When you answer "I went to a movie with a friend," it implies vagueness, even a tinge of resentment that you are being questioned this way, and is a veiled warning to the interrogator that you don't appreciate it and you won't be nailed down to specifics. People answer this way for one of two reasons: 1) They resent being asked at all. 2) They are not being truthful in the first place.

I know this sounds awfully nit-picky, but these are the kinds of signals that, say, a good homicide detective learns to pick up on.

Answer 2

I went with my friend.

The word "my" in the above sentence indicates ownership or a close relationship. The friend is your (close or personal) friend.

I went with a friend.

If you say "a friend" as stated in the above sentence, it indicates a less personal relationship. The friend is someone you know, but it may not be a close friend.

There is only a slight degree of difference in meaning between the two sentences.

Many people would not notice the difference in daily conversation, as the meaning is basically the same.

Answer 3

Well in my opinion 'my friend' is used when u usually go out with the person most of the time lets say best friend, but when u talk about 'a friend' it sounds like theres something behind it for example the person could be special and someone you like and you dont wanna let any1 know..
Never use 'a friend' when your girlfriend or boyfriend ask you who u went out with to watch a movie :P

Answer 4

no it's not inappropriate because a friend would sound more suspicious, like if you went with a date instead. also, A FRIEND would make the person your talking to more curious about this person

Answer 5

Yes, first mention of a noun 'a' should be used for single nouns. Second time round, you can say my.
B: I went with a friend. My friend thought the movie was good.
Good luck with your homework.

Answer 6

In that situation, there is gramatically no difference. The difference is in the implication of closeness of the relationship. "My" friend makes the relationship seem closer and deeper, more personal. "A" friend is a little more standoffish.

Answer 7

I don't know if it's inappropriate, but I, personally, would say "I went with a friend."

Answer 8

depending on the language it was spoken in...my friend could mean my boy/girl-friend instead of simple an acquaintance. but otherwise not entirely, unless the question would be of the teacher asking about personal life.

Answer 9

Its fine. In fact a friend will be inappropriate!

Answer 10

why would saying you went with your friend be wrong?

for me i use my friend when i refer to someone i could be intrested in a romantic friendship with.

saying.....i went with a friend...is that person you are talking about is one of many of the people i consider friends

so my friend is more then just friendship but the two of us are not ready to say we're boyfriend/girlfriend

i'm getting to know someone right now in were we are considering more then friendship, but are not romantic, so what i say to people is i'm calling my friend tonight, or i just talked to my friend etc.