Order of possession: do these sentences mean the same thing?

Question

I am following a study book that includes the following example for a use of the verb Ser to indicate possession or ownership, along with "de":

Los amigos son de María. (They are María's friends.)

Before reading the Spanish, I guessed it was "Ellos son los amigos de Mariá".

Both seem correct to me, but I'm assuming that the actual word order depends on the context of the question:

Q: Quiénes son ellos? A: Son los amigos de Mariá

Q: De quién son los amigos? A: Los amigos son de María.

Am I correct? The lesson isn't to teach all ways of expressing possession; it's just an example of a use of Ser. However, I would like to know if my analysis is correct.

Gracias!

Answer 1

Q: Quiénes son ellos? A: Son los amigos de Mariá--

Q: Who are they? They are the friends of María OR they are María's friends. ( no apostrophe "s" like in English)

Q: De quién son los amigos? A: Los amigos son de María.

Q: Whose friends are they? (literally " Of whom are the friends?) The friends are of María (Or, The friends are María's.)

Gracias. What I'm really asking is for the best way of saying "They are Maria's friends", and if either statement says basically the same thing. - AuntieJenny, Mar 18, 2016

They are Maria's friends. " (Ellos) son los amigos de María." The other one expresses the same idea. Just a modicum of difference. - Daniela2041, Mar 19, 2016

I got your message. Thanks! I took care of the redundancy (Sorry, AuntieJenny, I'm going to sign off and I wanted to let Dani know). - Jubilado, Mar 19, 2016