أنتم أصدقائي.

أنتم is the independent pronoun for you (plural) in Modern Standard Arabic.

It is used when speaking to:

• a group of males, or
• a mixed group of males and females

If you are speaking to a group of females only, Arabic normally uses أنتنّ instead.

So in this sentence, أنتم is the subject: you all.

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

So:

• أنتم أصدقائي literally looks like you my friends
• but it means You are my friends

This is very normal in Arabic.
In the present tense, Arabic often just puts:

• the subject first
• then the description or identification

If you wanted the past tense, you would use a form of كان:

• كنتم أصدقائي = You were my friends

A common pronunciation guide is:

antum aṣdiqā’ī

A rough breakdown:

• أنتم = an-tum
• أصدقائي = aṣ-di-qā-’ī

A few pronunciation notes:

• ص in أصدقائي is an emphatic s
• ق is a deep q sound, not an English k
• ء is a hamza, a small glottal stop, like a break in the middle of uh-oh

So أصدقائي has a slight pause before the final ī sound.

أصدقائي means my friends.

It comes from:

• صديق = friend
• أصدقاء = friends
• أصدقائي = my friends

So the final ـي means my.

This is very common in Arabic:

• كتابي = my book
• أستاذي = my teacher
• أصدقائي = my friends

Because صديق has a broken plural.

Arabic has two major kinds of plurals:

• sound plurals, which add an ending in a predictable way
• broken plurals, which change the internal pattern of the word

Here:

• singular: صديق
• plural: أصدقاء

This is called a broken plural because the word changes shape, not just its ending.

English has something a little similar with pairs like:

• man / men
• foot / feet

So أصدقاء is just the normal plural form you need to learn for صديق.

Because the ـي suffix already makes the noun definite.

أصدقائي means my friends, and my friends is already definite.
So Arabic does not say الأصدقائي here.

In general:

• صديق = a friend / friend
• الصديق = the friend
• صديقي = my friend

A noun with a possessive suffix like ـي is already specific, so it does not take الـ.

Not necessarily.

The word أصدقاء is the plural friends, and with أنتم, the sentence is grammatically addressed to:

• a group of males, or
• a mixed group

So أنتم أصدقائي can mean:

• You men are my friends
• You all are my friends if the group is mixed

If you are speaking to a group of females only, the more appropriate form would be:

أنتنّ صديقاتي = You women are my friends

Notice that both the pronoun and the noun change there.

This is a nominal sentence in Arabic.

It has two main parts:

• أنتم = the subject
• أصدقائي = the predicate

So the structure is:

subject + predicate

In traditional Arabic grammar, this is:

• مبتدأ for أنتم
• خبر for أصدقائي

The sentence is simply identifying who you are: my friends.

Yes, but أنتم أصدقائي is the most straightforward and neutral order.

You may also see:

أصدقائي أنتم

This can sound more emphatic, something like:

• You are my friends
• It is you who are my friends

For a learner, the safest standard version to use is:

أنتم أصدقائي

In a sentence like this, أنتم is normally kept, because there is no present-tense verb to carry the subject information.

So:

• أنتم أصدقائي is a complete normal sentence
• أصدقائي by itself usually just means my friends, not you are my friends

That is different from many Arabic verbal sentences, where the verb can already show the subject and the separate pronoun may be omitted.

With full vowel marks, it is usually written:

أَنْتُمْ أَصْدِقَائِي

A learner does not need to worry too much about every case detail at first, but this is the standard fully vocalized form.

The important part to remember is:

• أَنْتُمْ = you all
• أَصْدِقَائِي = my friends

You would change both the pronoun and the noun.

For one male:

• أنت صديقي = You are my friend

For one female:

• أنتِ صديقتي = You are my friend

For a group:

• أنتم أصدقائي = You all are my friends

So Arabic changes according to number and sometimes gender much more than English does.