How to introduce yourself in Italian

The four facts, and how to say them

Your name: mi chiamo Marco is the normal form; sono Marco is more direct and perfectly fine. Il mio nome è Marco is grammatical but sounds translated — Italians almost never say it.

Where you're from: sono inglese / sono inglese (nationality agrees with gender: italiano/italiana) or vengo dall'Inghilterra. For the city: sono di Londra if you were born there, vivo a Londra if you live there now.

Your job: sono insegnante, faccio l'ingegnere, lavoro in una banca. Note that after essere the job takes no article, after fare it does.

Your age: *ho 30 anni, never sono 30 anni. In Italian you have* your age — the single most common beginner slip for English speakers.

Casual or formal: what actually changes

Casual: Ciao! Come ti chiami? Io sono Marco. Piacere! Ciao works for both hello and goodbye.

Formal: Buongiorno. Sono Marco Smith. Come si chiama? Piacere di conoscerLa. Three things change: the greeting (buongiorno until afternoon, buonasera after), the verb in the third person, and ciao disappearing entirely.

Piacere on its own works in both registers and is the most natural reply when someone introduces themselves to you.

The three things that give a foreigner away

Saying sono 30 anni instead of ho 30 anni. By far the most frequent beginner error.

Forgetting gender agreement: a woman says sono stanca*, sono inglese (this one doesn't change), sono italiana*. Masculine forms used by a woman stand out immediately.

Using buonanotte to greet someone in the evening: buonanotte is only for leaving, when you part for the night. On arrival it's buonasera.