هؤلاء أصدقائي.

In Arabic, the present-tense verb to be is usually not written or spoken in simple sentences like this.

So:

• هؤلاء أصدقائي = These are my friends

Literally, it is closer to:

• These my friends

This is a very normal Arabic structure called a nominal sentence.

If you wanted the past tense, Arabic would use a verb, for example:

• كان هؤلاء أصدقائي = These were my friends

هؤلاء means these.

It is a demonstrative pronoun, used to point to people or things that are near the speaker.

In this sentence, it is the subject:

• هؤلاء = these
• أصدقائي = my friends

So the full meaning is These are my friends.

One useful thing about هؤلاء is that it is commonly used for both masculine and feminine plural, especially for people.

So you can use it for:

• these men
• these women
• these people

The gender is usually understood from context or from the noun that follows.

It can be.

Both are possible:

• هؤلاء أصدقائي
• هؤلاء هم أصدقائي

The version without هم is very common and natural.

Adding هم can make the sentence feel a bit more explicit or emphatic, something like:

• These are my friends
• These are indeed my friends

But in ordinary Arabic, the shorter version is perfectly normal.

أصدقائي means my friends.

It is made of:

• أصدقاء = friends
• ـي = my

So:

• أصدقاء
  • ي → أصدقائي = my friends

The ـي is the possessive ending for my.

Because it is a broken plural.

Arabic has two major kinds of plural:

1. Sound plurals: made by adding a regular ending
2. Broken plurals: the inside of the word changes

Here:

• صديق = friend
• أصدقاء = friends

This is a broken plural, so the pattern changes rather than just adding a simple suffix.

English has a few somewhat similar ideas in irregular plurals like:

• man → men
• foot → feet

Because أصدقائي already means my friends, and possession makes the noun definite.

In Arabic, when a noun has a possessive ending like:

• كتابي = my book
• أصدقائي = my friends

it is already definite, so you do not add ال.

So الأصدقائي would be incorrect.

In هؤلاء أصدقائي:

• هؤلاء is the subject
• أصدقائي is the predicate

In traditional Arabic grammar:

• هؤلاء = مبتدأ
• أصدقائي = خبر

So the structure is:

• These
  • my friends

This is a very common Arabic sentence pattern.

Not usually in the same direct way.

هؤلاء أصدقائي most naturally means:

• These are my friends

If you want to say These friends are mine, Arabic would more naturally use a different structure, such as:

• هؤلاء الأصدقاء أصدقائي
• or another sentence depending on context

So in your example, هؤلاء stands on its own as these, not these friends.

A common transliteration is:

• hāʾulāʾi aṣdiqāʾī

A rough pronunciation guide:

• هؤلاء = haa-u-laa-i, with a glottal stop where the ʾ appears
• أصدقائي = as-di-qaa-ee, also with a glottal stop before the final ee

A few important points:

• ā is a long a
• ʾ represents a hamza, a little catch in the throat
• ṣ is an emphatic s

Both words contain hamza (ء), which represents a glottal stop.

• هؤلاء has hamza in the middle
• أصدقائي has hamza before the final ـي

Hamza is a real consonant in Arabic, not just a spelling mark. It affects pronunciation.

For English speakers, it can feel like the break in the middle of uh-oh.

So when reading these words, do not just ignore the hamza completely.

In Modern Standard Arabic, هؤلاء is used mainly for plural human beings.

So it is very natural in a sentence like:

• هؤلاء أصدقائي = These are my friends

For non-human plurals, Arabic often uses different agreement patterns, and learners will often see singular feminine forms used in ways that may seem surprising from an English point of view.

So for now, the safest idea is:

• هؤلاء = commonly these people

Grammatically, it is the predicate of a nominal sentence, so it is nominative in function.

However, because the word ends with the my suffix ـي, the case ending is not as visible as it would be on a simpler noun.

So the important beginner-level point is:

• In هؤلاء أصدقائي, أصدقائي is the predicate
• Predicates of nominal sentences are normally nominative

You do not need to worry too much here if the ending is not easy to see yet.

Only if you mean these two are my friends.

Compare:

• هؤلاء أصدقائي = These are my friends (plural)
• هذان صديقاي = These two are my two friends (dual)

So هؤلاء is plural, while هذان is dual masculine.

Arabic is much more precise than English about distinguishing:

• one
• two
• more than two

Yes, absolutely.

هؤلاء أصدقائي is a full, natural, complete sentence in Arabic.

It has everything it needs:

• a subject: هؤلاء
• a predicate: أصدقائي

Arabic does not need an extra word like are in the present tense, so nothing is missing.