how to say 'one of ---' eg. one of my friends....

[enlightenment]

I cannot figure out how to translate 'one of ...' , eg.'he is one of my friends', 'I need one of you to help me', 'that is one of your best ideas yet'. Could someone please fill me in? Thanks!

[助人为乐]

it means “----之一，the example you given is that 他是我众多朋友中的一个！did you get it? and i am chinese，a senior student ！I hope it is useful to you! sorry for my English!

[rezaf]

I need one of you to help me－》 我需要你们中有一个人可以帮助我。

that is one of your best ideas yet－》到目前为止那是你最好的主意之一

[creamyhorror]

I need one of you to help me－》 我需要你们中有一个人可以帮助我。

Not quite, the '有' and '可以' can't be used there. Try "我需要你们其中一个人来帮助我。"

[rezaf]

keyi is not in the original sentence but I think it makes it more polite and grammatically you3(I can't type characters now) can also be used in your sentence.

[Scoobyqueen]

Enlightenment - what would be your suggestion?

[anonymoose]

他是我的一个朋友。

[aaronguan]

<_< "one of" means "之一(zhi yi)",one of my friends means 我的朋友之一（wo de peng you zhi yi),if u come across similar translation,just put “之一” behind,translate my friends into 我的朋友 first,then adding "之一" behind 我的朋友 will be ok.hope i could help u.

[enlightenment]

Thanks for your help, folks.

How about: "这是你最好的主意之一" for "this is one of your best ideas yet", and either "他是我所有朋友的其中一个" or "他是我其中的一个朋友" for "he is one of my best friends"?

[enlightenment]

I would love to hear what 助人为乐 thinks of my latest suggestions....谢谢你的帮助。。。。

[anonymoose]

"这是你最好的主意之一" for "this is one of your best ideas yet"

I think this is OK, but 之一 is quite formal. It is not frequently used in casual chinese.

either "他是我所有朋友的其中一个" or "他是我其中的一个朋友" for "he is one of my best friends"?

Firstly, 其 literally means he, him, it and so on (in other words, refers back to the noun previously mentioned). Therefore, 我其中 doesn't make sense, because essentially you are saying "amongst me".

I think it would be grammatically correct to say 他是我所有朋友（其）中的一个, but still I don't know how natural this sounds.

[creamyhorror]

keyi is not in the original sentence but I think it makes it more polite and grammatically you3(I can't type characters now) can also be used in your sentence.

What I meant was that you can't use 有 and 可以 together (without changing the meaning of the sentence). Your sentence simplifies to

我需要有人可以帮我。 "I need someone to be able to help me"

which is not the same as "I need someone to help me". In fact I'd guess the sentence would sound wrong to native speakers (even though there's a possibly valid interpretation). Happy to be corrected, but I'd be surprised.

However, this would be valid (and more polite): 我希望你们其中(有)一个人可以帮我。 "I hope one of you can help me."

Alternatively, you could make it a request with something like 你们其中有谁可以帮我吗？ or 你们其中(有)一个人可以帮我吗？

[Kenny同志]

他是我的一个朋友, more often than not, is enough.

When you can dispense with 之一，do it.

[rezaf]

What I meant was that you can't use 有 and 可以 together

In think your opinion is wrong because 有一個人 and 可以 are two different parts of the sentence. In this case 一個人 and 有一個人 both can indicate an unspecified person. The only part of my sentence that you can argue is not exactly in the English sentence is the 可以 part. In my opinion 可以 makes it more polite and probably a better English translation would be "If possible, I need one of you to help me."

In fact I'd guess the sentence would sound wrong to native speakers

I just asked two native speakers and they said it's correct.

[WestTexas]

What exactly is the difference in meaning between 他是我的朋友 and 他是我的一个朋友? I understand the second one is "He is one of my friends" or "He is a friend of mine" while the first one is "He is my friend". But in English these really seem to have the same meaning. Are they the same in Chinese?

Also, is 之一 really that formal? Personally I use it a lot in speaking, because it is so easy to use. I'm not sure what I will switch it with if I'm not supposed to use it in speaking.

[rezaf]

When you can dispense with 之一，do it.

What do you usually replace it with?

[creamyhorror]

In think your opinion is wrong because 有一個人 and 可以 are two different parts of the sentence. In this case 一個人 and 有一個人 both can indicate an unspecified person. The only part of my sentence that you can argue is not exactly in the English sentence is the 可以 part. In my opinion 可以 makes it more polite and probably a better English translation would be "If possible, I need one of you to help me."

I'm fine with having 有 in the sentence.

可以 is definitely more polite, but (to me) doesn't work with 需要. It's the difference between 我需要你帮我 and 我需要你可以帮我 - the first one is fine, the second mixes "I need" and a request, and so doesn't sound right to me. Although 我希望你可以帮我 seems fine.

edit: the other possibility is that 我需要你可以帮我 means "I need you to be able to help me [in the future]", but that's a meaning different from the original sentence.

I just asked two native speakers and they said it's correct.

Kennywoo/skylee/semantic nuance, could we have confirmation here? I tried googling for examples where 需要 is directly used with 可以 (我需要[person]可以[verb][object]), but can't find any. Is it valid under standard grammar, and is "我需要你可以帮我" a more polite equivalent of "我需要你帮我"?

[Lu]

What exactly is the difference in meaning between 他是我的朋友 and 他是我的一个朋友? I understand the second one is "He is one of my friends" or "He is a friend of mine" while the first one is "He is my friend". But in English these really seem to have the same meaning. Are they the same in Chinese?

It's the difference between 'he is one of my friends' and 'he is my friend'. In the end, those two sentences of course come down to the same thing, but the nuance is slightly different.

[rezaf]

I just tried this one: baidu link

Some of the results seem to be relevant:

我们需要你可以长期从事这份工作

需要你可以带走

我们需要你可以独立工作

[creamyhorror]

我们需要你可以长期从事这份工作

This is fine because it's not 可以 as a request to do it now, but 可以 as a literal "able to" [in the future]. "We need you to be able to stay with this job for some time."

我们需要你长期从事这份工作 = "We need you to stay with this job for some time." is also valid, though a bit less polite.

需要你可以带走

This is from "电脑动画图片，需要你可以带走", and it's actually short for 电脑动画图片，[你]需要[的话]你可以带走. So it's a different case altogether.

我们需要你可以独立工作

Same as with case 1: "We need you to be able to work independently." It's a requirement for you to be able to do something in the future, not right now. Where "I need you to help me" is an immediate thing, as opposed to "I need you to be able to help me".

Hope a native speaker can confirm the question!