Do you know how to introduce yourself in Italian?

If you don’t, no worries 🙂

Keep on reading and you’ll learn how to introduce yourself in Italian in 3 EASY STEPS.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF IN ITALIAN IN REAL LIFE

Introducing yourself sounds very easy, right?

After all, you just need to talk about you and who knows yourself better than you do?

So you can easily put together a brief presentation, but is it what you would really do in a real life context? 

Probably not, since you are more likely to be involved in a conversation rather than a one-way presentation.

Let’s see then how to introduce yourself in Italian in 3 EASY STEPS.

Note that the language you use is different in informal and formal situations.  If you don’t know yet what’s the difference between formal and informal Italian, check out this lesson.

1. GREETINGS

Greetings are definitely the first step when you meet someone for the first time and, in an informal context, CIAO /ˈtʃao/ (=Hello) is what you normally use. 

(To find out more on how to say “hello” and “bye” to someone, check our lesson on Italian greetings.)

If you are in a formal situation, though, you cannot use CIAO. So what do you say?

SALVE is a very good option for you. Here is how you pronounce it:

If you want to know more about the formal greetings in Italian, you can go to this lesson: how to say hello and goodbye in formal Italian.

2. WHAT’S YOUR NAME?

After greetings, “What’s your name?” is typically the first information asked and the Italian translation is: 

• COME TI CHIAMI? /ˈkome ti: kjaˈmi:/

The answer to this question is:

• MI CHIAMO  /mi: kjaˈmo/  + [your Name]

Then of course you will have to ask the question back:

• TU COME TI CHIAMI?

Listen to the example below:

And what if you are in a formal context? 

This sentence will be slightly different .. so instead of “tu come ti chiami?”, you have to say: “LEI COME SI CHIAMA?“.

In case someone asks you how to spell your name, you can check out this lesson so you’ll be prepared!

3. NICE TO MEET YOU!

“Nice to Meet you!” is what you add after your name and this expression is translated in Italian as: PIACERE DI CONOSCERTI, if you are in an informal context.

In formal Italian, instead, you need to use the following: PIACERE DI CONOSCERLA.

However, it’s very common to simply say: PIACERE! 

And this is perfect in all situations! 

CONCLUSION

In this lesson, you’ve learnt how to introduce yourself in Italian in 3 easy steps. Let’s recap on what they are:

1 – GREETINGS

In an informal situation, you can always use CIAO, while SALVE is better in formal contexts.

2- WHAT’S YOUR NAME?

In Italian you say: “COME TI CHIAMI?” and  the answer is: “MI CHIAMO + [your name]“.
Then you normally ask back the question “TU COME TI CHIAMI?”.

In formal Italian, instead, you have to say: “LEI COME SI CHIAMA?“

3- NICE TO MEET YOU!

In Italian, you can say “PIACERE DI CONOSCERTI” (Informal) or “PIACERE DI CONOSCERLA” (Formal). But you can also simply say “PIACERE!” that is more common. 

Great! now you are ready to go and introduce to your Italian friends 🙂 

BUT BEFORE YOU LEAVE, please introduce yourself to us in the comments below. Tell us: come ti chiami?

Until next lesson … A presto!

You can also read:

GREETINGS IN ITALIAN: WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR?

3 COMMON WAYS TO ASK “HOW ARE YOU?” IN ITALIAN

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SPELL YOUR NAME IN ITALIAN? LEARN THE ALPHABET