"Il est son ami."

Translation: He is his friend.

[interabang]

How come this is not "C'est son ami"? I thought if you have a possesive or an article in the sentence, the construction has to be "C'est..."

[terminalnode]

So son is a generic 3rd person possesive and I can't tell if it's her, his or its?

[n6zs]

Not generic! Son is used with either "ami" or "amie" because the noun starts with a vowel. It is awkward to say "sa ami(e)" so "son" is always used. It can mean either his or her.

[Wunel]

Il can mean it and "it is his/her friend" is a reasonable sentence, is there a way to distinguish them other than through context?

[AnoopVargh]

No,I don't think so. Remember, English also has enough cases where the meaning can only be deciphered through the context.

[Wunel]

All too familiar with English, just wondering if French was any different here. Thank you for the answer.

[stoz]

Translating 'il est son ami' into English : he is your friend - is incorrect. It should be he is her friend - but how do we know translate son to her?!

[Niseis]

"Ami" is muscular. So what if I had a female friend?

[Wunel]

Then your word is amie.

Also I believe you meant 'masculine', not 'muscular'.

[willijanb]

But couldn't it be he (ami) is her friend? The friend is hers (son) and he is masculine (ami)? I hope someone will answer because I am unsure. Thank you!

[Wunel]

Yes that is also perfectly acceptable.

[JagMicker1]

If 'il est son ami" is acceptable here, then why wasn't it acceptable when we were asked to translate English to French? THAT IS JUST MORE OWLSHIT!!