Mes meilleurs potes du lycée - are these girls and boys? Friends informal in French. I don’t know ‘pot’ ‘pote’.

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Accepted Answer

"Pote" (not 'pot') is a 'familiar' word, originally only applied to a male friend/mate. In more recent usage, it is also applied to females (and that is clearly accepted here with the reference to 'une pote' in the vocabulary list).  'Mes potes" - 'my friends/mates' - only context will tell you whether 'mes potes' is all male, mixed group, or all females as the singular is always 'pote' and the plural 'potes'.

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Also, why is it feminine, it sounds like a boy speaking, surely he might have male and female friends, therefore why not just ‘pots’

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Hi Deborah,Suggest you have a look here to help with your query:-https://www.wordreference.com/fren/poteJim

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Agree with Maarten. It's similar in usage to the American "guys". Even though mostly used for a male group, it is now increasingly being applied to mixed and female groups as well.