I'm just a regular guy, but I have three best friends.
When I meet the first, he usually sends me two letters.
When I meet the second, she tends to leave me just as I am, sometimes having passed me a letter.
When I meet the third, he presents me with his final testament.
Who am I, and who are my friends?
Inspired by this riddle, but the solution is (almost certainly) different.
I believe that demonofthemist is very close. Building on and branching out from his answer, you are:
A verb in English. At the risk of getting too technical, you are the infinitive form of a regular verb in English.
Your three friends are:
The three tenses of verbs (past, present, and future).
When I meet the first, he usually sends me two letters.
Past Tense
The past tense of a regular verb in English is formed by appending “ed”.
For example: “ask” → “asked”, “answer” → “answered”
(Note that I mentioned “regular” verb. There are “irregular” verbs that do not follow this rule. For example, the two verbs in the above sentence from the OP are both irregular:
“meet” → “met”, “send” → “sent”)
When I meet the second, she tends to leave me just as I am, sometimes having passed me a letter.
Present Tense
The present tense of a verb in English is usually the base/root/infinitive, but an “s” gets appended when it is used with third-person singular subject.
For example: I type, you type, he types
A few irregular verbs don’t follow this pattern; for example,
I am, you are, he is; I have, you have, he has
When I meet the third, he presents me with his final testament.
Future Tense
The future tense of a verb in English is (almost?) always formed by adding the auxiliary word “will”.
For example: I will type, you will type, he will type
The legal document specifying how a person’s estate should be distributed after he dies is called a “last will and testament” (emphasis added).
Alternatively, it could be that you are
Ebenezer Scrooge
and your “friends” are
the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. :-)
You are:
A Verb in English
Your three friends are:
Three forms of verb (Simple, Past & Past participle)
When I meet the first, he usually sends me two letters.
Past Form
When a verb is in past form it is usually appended a ED
Example :Gift -> Gifted,Walk -> Walked
But this is not mandatory
Example :Do -> Did,Go -> Went
When I meet the second, she tends to leave me just as I am, sometimes having passed me a letter.
Simple Form
When a verb is in simple or present form it is used as is, But get appended a S when used with third-person singular noun or pronoun.
Example : When he gets angry, his face turns red
Note : I'll mention that sometime ES is used instead on S, e.g.Do -> Does
When I meet the third, he presents me with his final testament.
Past Participle Form
The past Past participle form of a verb indicates past or completed action or time.
Example :Do -> Done,Go -> Gone,Awake -> Awoken
You might be:
Oxygen
And your 3 best friends are:
Hydrogen, Carbon, and Nitrogen (?)
When I meet the first, he usually sends me two letters
Hydrogen reacts with Oxygen to give H2O, so that's 2 Hs
When I meet the second, she tends to leave me just as I am, sometimes having passed me a letter
Carbon and oxygen do not usually react at normal conditions, but they do you get CO2, so that's only 1 C
When I meet the third, he presents me with his final testament
All I can think of is NOx, but that means "night" so I might be on the wrong track.
And the simple guy is
Octopus
When I meet the first, he usually sends me two letters.
Meet O(which are you) and it gives two letters CT
When I meet the second, she tends to leave me just as I am, sometimes having passed me a letter.
Meet C it gives two letters T and O(again)
When I meet the third, he presents me with his final testament
Meet T and it presents you with OPUS which is a synonym for testament or will.
And the tree friends are
OCT(October) :)
