"Является ли враг моего врага моим другом?"

Translation: Is the enemy of my enemy my friend?

[flootzavut]

First time this sentence came up I misread враг as врач and thought it was a really strange sentence... d'oh!

[VladimirCo13]

Yep, totally did the same thing

[mindbusiness]

In my mother tongue (Slovak, yet another Slavic language) the word "vrah" (very similar to the Russian "враг" phonetically) means "a murderer" so you can imagine my confusion...

[Mr_Thu]

Probably cognate, but with changed meaning :)

[SmackShark]

We're finally getting some fun phrases :)

[cthutq58]

"Bраг моего врага мой друг?"

[zenomic]

What does является mean?

[linguolearner1]

"является" means "is", which is used in order to replace "это", and to make a sentence sound more formal.

[KVolkov]

is the "моим другом" declined this way because it is referring to a state of being, similar to when we talk about someone "becoming" a lawyer etc.?

[linguolearner1]

Well, it is just a fixed usage that "является" should be followed by words in their instrumental case (i.e. моим другом)

[kat.palmor]

Является means is? I thought there wasn't really a word for that in Russian??

[obscure-memes]

This sentence caused me physical pain

[9wa92]

You are a weak person, if the answer is yes.

[Phil_Stracchino]

Враг моего врага - враг моего врага. Не больше, не меньше.

[retired82844]

Is the enemy of my enemy a friend of mine?

[Markfour16]

Why is this politics

[10Zd2]

Is my friend the enemy of my enemy ?
Could be accepted.