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On the internet I read the word friends have many meaning.

I am friends with my last schoolmate from university.

I have got five friends from Indonesia.

Those people are friends of Lord Voldemort.

The first form is a verb, the second is plural noun and the third is plural noun too.

Am I right?

What is different between nouns members of and friends of? Do we use the first word only with things and the second word with people?

Can I say:

I am a member of British parliament.

I am friends of British parliament.

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  • I don't the first ''friend'' in your example is a verb, but "befriend" can be a verb.
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Mar 4, 2017 at 19:24
  • @M.A.R. I mean the form be friends with .
    – Ľubomír Masarovič
    Commented Mar 4, 2017 at 19:25
  • Yes, I mean that one too. The verb there is "be", not "friends".
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Mar 4, 2017 at 19:27
  • @M.A.R. Then how we call form be friends with in British English?
    – Ľubomír Masarovič
    Commented Mar 4, 2017 at 19:29
  • I'd just call it a fixed expression. Let's see what the answerers have to say.
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Mar 4, 2017 at 19:30

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Friends is a plural noun. In your first sentence the verb is 'am'.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/friend

You can be a friend of someone or be friends with someone.

You can be a friend of a society or group which you support (usually financially).

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/member

You can be a member of a club or group to which you belong.

So there are Members of Parliament but there aren't any Friends of the British Parliament because it doesn't accept donations, apparently.

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