I am not sure if I should put 跟 before 在 or the other way round. For example:
我跟朋友(一起)在饭馆吃饭 or 我在饭馆跟朋友(一起)吃饭
Can I use both, but the meaning is slightly different?
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跟朋友 with friends
跟家人 with family
在 : in (where)
在饭馆 in the restaurant
The order of 跟朋友 and 在飯館 is not important in Chinese.
Lets just simply translate this into English.
跟: with
我跟朋友(一起)在饭馆吃饭: I'm here with friends in the restaurant eating.
我在饭馆跟朋友(一起)吃饭: I'm in the restaurant eating with friends.
So the answer is, both are correct grammatically, both means the same, depends on which one you like to use.
Both are ok. But there are slightly difference(and the difference is really very small so you can use any of them as you like in daily life).
My understanding:
我跟朋友(一起)在饭馆吃饭: you emphasize that you are with friends
我在饭馆跟朋友(一起)吃饭: you emphasize that the action "吃饭"
In daily use, both are ok and nobody will tell the differents, I think. But in grammar the first sentence emphasized in "whom you have meal with", while the second sentence emphasized in"the location in which you have meal", this kind of emphasis is very very lightly