Meet and Greet

By Sigrid Lee

When you meet someone new, what do you say?

Informally

One way to introduce yourself is to say Ciao and then who you are:

Ciao, io sono Ida.

Hi, I'm Ida.

Caption 23, Non è mai troppo tardi - EP 2
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In the following example, Ida recognizes Ricotta, so she says:

Tu devi essere il famoso Ricotta. Ciao, piacere.

You must be the famous Ricotta. Hi, nice to meet you.

Captions 19-20, Non è mai troppo tardi - EP 2
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And you can combine these two and say something like:

Ciao, piacere, sono ____________.

Hi, nice to meet you, I'm _______________.

Young people will usually say Ciao (hi) and then their name. After ciao, there is usually the verb essere (to be)

Ciao, sono __________.

Hi, I'm ____________.

But if you are not the first to speak, you can just say,

Piacere, [your name].

Nice to meet you, I'm [your name].

A bit more formally

In this case, you can leave out the verb essere (to be) in Italian. It is enough to just say your name. Piacere, in this case, is a noun, meaning "pleasure." So, you don't need an article, you don't need a verb. You just need the one word, piacere and your name. How simple is that?

Piacere, Grazia. -Piacere, Adriano.

How do you do? Grazia. -A pleasure, Adriano.

Caption 23, Adriano Olivetti - La forza di un sogno Ep. 1
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