the daughter of a friend of mine

[Silverobama]

Maggie is a friend of mine. Her daughter Yu is learning English from me. I went to an English club last night with Yu and someone asked who Yu was. I said:

a) She's the daughter of a friend of mine. (No one knows or cares about who Maggie is.)
b) She's the daughter of one of my friends. (Ditto.)
c) She's the daughter of my friend Maggie. (More clearly but who knows who Maggie is.)

I said "a" but I still don't know the best way to express the idea and the most natural way to tell my listeners who Yu is.

Please help me.

 

[Rover_KE]

Use a) or b) if they don't know or care who Maggie is.

Use c) if they know Maggie or you think they'd be interested to know whose daughter she is.

 

[Silverobama]

Use a) or b) if they don't know or care who Maggie is.

Use c) if they know Maggie or you think they'd be interested to know whose daughter she is.

Are these three sentences natural? I thought they weren’t and couldn’t express my intended meaning.

 

[emsr2d2]

Are these three sentences natural? I thought they weren’t and couldn’t express my intended meaning.

They're all grammatically correct and natural.

 

[Rover_KE]

Are these three sentences natural?

I would have said so if they weren't.

 

[tedmc]

I would say:

She's my friend's daughter.
She is my friend Maggie's daughter.

 

[Silverobama]

She's my friend's daughter.

This one sounds like you have only one friend.

 

[tedmc]

This one sounds like you have only one friend.

Not necessarily.

 

[tedmc]

Not necessarily.

When you say "she's my friend's daughter", where does it say/imply you have only one friend?

 

[5jj]

'My friend's daughter suggests 'the daughter of my friend' rather than 'the daughter of a friend of mine'.

 

[tedmc]

'My friend's daughter suggests 'the daughter of my friend' rather than 'the daughter of a friend of mine'.

Does this mean the writer has only one friend?

 

[jutfrank]

Does this mean the writer has only one friend?

No, of course not. I'd probably say She's my friend's daughter too.

 

[Silverobama]

Does this mean the writer has only one friend?

Opinions differ. I didn't make that up. Take a look at this thread. I was told by my late language adviser that "my friend" sounds like "you have only one friend" while "a friend of mine" means you have many friends.

I guess when #12 said "Of course not", he meant that in this context "my friend's daughter" means you have more than one friend. Or perhaps "my friend's daughter" doesn't imply that you have only one friend, maybe just in this context.

If "my friend" isn't ambiguous, why do people use "a friend of mine" and "one of my friends"?

 

[jutfrank]

Let's clear this up.

my friend's daughter

This does not mean that you have only one friend and it does not mean that you have multiple friends. It means that you have at least one friend and he or she has at least one daughter. That is to say that it could be used if you have only one friend and it could be used if you have a thousand friends. In the context that you're asking about, the number of friends and daughters is completely irrelevant.

 

[Silverobama]

Let's clear this up.

my friend's daughter

This does not mean that you have only one friend and it does not mean that you have multiple friends. It means that you have at least one friend and he or she has at least one daughter. That is to say that it could be used if you have only one friend and it could be used if you have a thousand friends. In the context that you're asking about, the number of friends and daughters is completely irrelevant.

Then what's the difference between them?

a) She's the daughter of a friend of mine.
b) She's my friend's daughter.

 

[Silverobama]

In the context that you're asking about, the number of friends and daughters is completely irrelevant.

In the OP, I already said that I wanted to tell the listeners that it's my friend Maggie (If I think they want to know who that girl is) or "It's one of my friends' daughter, why is it that completely irrelevant? Could you please elaborate on that?

 

[tedmc]

Then what's the difference between them?

a) She's the daughter of a friend of mine.
b) She's my friend's daughter.

I did notice you have been using "a friend of mine" instead of just "my friend". They mean the same thing (我的朋友 in Chinese), just that the former is wordy. It is the same in Chinese - nothing about the number(s) is implied.