"Meu amigo deixa o filho dela correr."

Translation: My friend lets her son run.

[Maharlikans]

The translation is also wrong. "My friend lets his son run"... o filho dela does not mean "his".

[mgaristova]

You are perfectly right! "Dela"can by no means be translated as "his"!

[Jones_Rick]

That is a very bad example for beginning students. It is needlessly confusing.

[srshti]

Shouldn't that be "Minha amiga deixa..." since the son is "dela"? Or do people regularly use "amigo" in a gender-neutral manner?

[Paulenrique]

Yes, sometimes we use the neutral form (meu melhor amigo é a Ana), but it does not sound good portuguese. But it can be another person's child, can't it?

[Abandonei]

It sounds not natural in Brazilian Portuguese. The correct is: "Minha amiga deixa o filho dela correr". Or better so: "Minha amiga deixa seu filho correr" ("filho dela" seems to be redundant, so, changes to "seu filho") .

[srshti]

Thanks. And the second change makes sense as well in this context. Unless @Paulenrique is right and it's referring to two different people, a male friend and a different woman who has a son.

[Bob354387]

Surely it should still be 'her' son.

[dospescados]

No,
amigo-dele;
amiga-dela. Unless she is talking about some other womans son.Without that context it is a very strange sentence.