To introduce yourself in English, give three things: your name, where you're from, and what you do. "Hi, I'm Ana. I'm from Brazil — I'm a nurse." That simple pattern works at a party, a first day of work, or a class. In speech, "I'm Ana" sounds more natural than "My name is Ana," which is a little more formal.
Once you have those three pieces, everything else is just adding warmth and follow-up questions. Let's build it up.
The three-part introduction
Think of a self-introduction as three short pieces you can say in any order. Keep each one to a single sentence.
| Piece | Casual | A little more formal |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Hi, I'm Ana. | Hello, my name is Ana. |
| Where from | I'm from Brazil. | I'm originally from Brazil. |
| What you do | I'm a nurse. | I work as a nurse. |
Put them together and add a friendly closer: "Hi, I'm Ana. I'm from Brazil, and I'm a nurse. Nice to meet you!" That is a complete, natural introduction.
Answering "What do you do?"
Very soon after meeting, someone will ask "What do you do?" This is a question about your job, not what you are doing right now. Answer with your work.
| Your situation | What to say |
|---|---|
| You have a job | "I'm a teacher." / "I work in marketing." |
| You run a business | "I run a small café." |
| You're a student | "I'm studying engineering." |
| Between jobs | "I'm looking for work at the moment." |
The pattern "I'm a + job" covers most answers: I'm a nurse, I'm an engineer, I'm a designer. For fields rather than titles, use "I work in..." — I work in finance, I work in IT. Both sound completely natural.
Formal vs casual: same person, two versions
The same facts can be dressed up or down. A job interview wants the formal version; a party wants the relaxed one. Here is the same person in both settings.
| Casual (a party) | Formal (an interview) |
|---|---|
| Hi, I'm Ana. | Hello, my name is Ana Silva. |
| I'm from Brazil. | I'm originally from Brazil. |
| I'm a nurse. | I work as a nurse at a children's hospital. |
| Nice to meet you! | It's a pleasure to meet you. |
For the full professional version — including how to talk about your experience — see our guide to English for job interviews.
Introducing others and replying warmly
You will also introduce people to each other. The easy formula is "This is..." plus how you know them: "This is my colleague, Ken." or "This is my friend, Maria."
When someone says "Nice to meet you," the two natural replies are worth memorizing:
| You hear | Natural reply |
|---|---|
| Nice to meet you. | "Nice to meet you too." |
| Nice to meet you. | "Likewise." |
"Likewise" is a small, useful word that means "the same to you." It sounds polished and is easy to use.
To keep the conversation going after names, ask a light follow-up: "What brings you here?" or "How do you know [the host]?" Both are friendly and open.
Forgetting a name the moment you hear it is universal, and English has a completely polite rescue: "I'm so sorry, could you tell me your name again?" No one is offended. Owning the slip warmly is far better than guessing wrong or avoiding the name all evening.
Keep learning English
A good introduction is a small script you can reuse for the rest of your life, so it pays to make it smooth. Practice your name, home, and job out loud with audio and speaking practice in the Pretalk app, and firm up the grammar behind sentences like "I'm a nurse" with our guide to basic sentence structure — so introducing yourself feels easy every time.
