'I got this from a friend of my wife' vs I got this from a friend of my wife's

[Ched133]

Hello

Which of the following sentences is correct

I got this from a friend of my wife

I got this from a friend of my wife's

I think it is "wife's" because you can reverse the sentence to "I got this from my wife's friend" but i'm not 100% sure

Thanks

[Torsten]

The first one is more formal.
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[Mister Micawber]

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I got this from a friend of my wife's -- this is called the double genitive, and is quite common. It additionally indicates that your wife has more than one friend, which is not possible with '..from my wife's friend' (see below).

I got this from a friend of my wife -- This is also possible, but not usual; the of-genitive is usually used for inanimate objects (The leg of the stool), while the Anglo-Saxon genitive is used of persons (my wife's friend).
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