Does 友達 have the plural marker たち "built-in"?

Question

I cannot recall this very clearly so I'm sorry if this is all not correct but someone once told me that the word 友達{ともだち} has the plural marker たち "built-in" and therefore you cannot say 友達たち about friends in a situation where you could normally use ～たち. Is that right? If it is, is there any other way to mark plurality for the word 友達 in situations where ～たち is used for other nouns?

Answer 1

It does! 達 is the suffix for plurals but when used otherwise, it's often seen in hiragana. Examples would be:

私たち (us)

あなたたち (you all)

君たち (less polite form of "you all")

(NAME)たち (Used to refer to a specific person accompanied by others.)

The interesting thing about the word 友達 is that it can also refer to a singular friend. The first kanji in  友達 is also used in the word 友人, which also has a meaning of "friend" or "companion"