Italian All-in-One For Dummies (22 page)

You can also combine
Ci vediamo
with other phrases. For example:

•
Ci vediamo presto!
(chee veh-
dyah
-moh
prehs
-toh!) (
See you soon!
)

•
Ci vediamo dopo!
(chee veh-
dyah
-moh
doh
-poh!) (
See you later!
)

•
Ci vediamo domani!
(chee veh-
dyah
-moh doh-
mah
-nee!) (
See you tomorrow!
)

Making Introductions

It's important to be able to introduce yourself to someone and to answer questions about who you are and where you're from.

Whether to use first or last names as well as formal and informal registers are important considerations. In a job situation, you usually use last names, whereas at private functions, people are more likely to tell you their first names. The fact that someone gives you his or her first name, however, does not necessarily mean that you should use the informal
tu
(tooh) (
you
); using a person's first name with the formal form of address is quite common. Usually, the older person proposes making the switch to the informal form.

Introducing yourself

We want to familiarize you with an important reflexive verb,
chiamarsi
(kyah-
mahr-
see) (
to call oneself
), which you use to introduce yourself and to ask others for their names. Here are the present-tense forms of this important verb.

So that you can get the hang of the verb
chiamarsi
, practice these easy examples. Just change your intonation and word order, and you can ask others for their name instead of telling them yours.

Ciao
(or
Buongiorno
)
, mi chiamo Eva.
(chou/bwohn-
johr
-noh, mee
kyah
-moh
eh
-vah.) (
Hello, my name is Eva.
)

E tu come ti chiami?
(eh too
koh
-meh tee
kyah
-mee?) (
And what's your name?
)

Lei, come si chiama?
(lehy,
koh
-meh see
kyah
-mah?) (
What's your name?
)

Piacere!
(pyah-
cheh
-reh!) (with a quick handshake) is one way of saying
Nice to meet you!

Incidentally, as in English, you can also introduce yourself simply by saying your name:
Io
sono Pietro
(
ee
-oh
soh
-noh pyeh-troh) (
I'm Pietro
). Finally, you can just state your name, without the
Mi
chiamo
(
My name is
) or
Sono
(
I am
), as shown in the sample dialogue that follows.

Talkin' the Talk

The people in this dialogue are colleagues assigned to work on the same project. They introduce themselves to each other.

Mr. Messa:
Carlo Messa. Piacere!

kahr
-loh
mehs
-sah. pyah-
cheh
-reh!

Carlo Messa. Nice to meet you!

Mr. Rossi:
Piacere, Marco Rossi.

pyah-
cheh
-reh,
mahr
-koh
rohs
-see.

Nice to meet you, Marco Rossi.

Ms. Pertini:
Piacere. Sono Paola Pertini.

pyah-
cheh
-reh.
soh
-noh
pah
-oh-lah pehr-
tee
-nee.

Nice to meet you. I'm Paola Pertini.

Ms. Salvi:
Lieta di conoscerla. Anna Salvi.

lyeh
-tah dee koh-
noh
-shehr-lah.
ahn
-nah
sahl
-vee.

Pleased to meet you. Anna Salvi.

Mr. Melis:
Mi chiamo Carlo Melis, piacere.

mee
kyah
-moh
kahr
-loh
meh
-lees, pyah-
cheh
-reh.

My name is Carlo Melis, nice to meet you.

Mr. Foschi:
Molto lieto, Silvio Foschi.

mohl
-toh
lyeh
-tah,
seel
-vee-oh
fohs
-kee.

Very pleased to meet you, Silvio Foschi.

 

Children and young people forego ceremony and introduce themselves more casually, though still politely — something like this:

Ciao! Sono Giulio.
(chou!
soh
-noh
jooh
-lee-oh.) (
Hello! I'm Giulio.
)

E
io sono Giulia, piacere.
(eh
ee
-oh
soh
-noh
jooh
-lee-ah, pyah-
cheh
-reh.) (
And I'm Giulia, nice to meet you.
)

The following example offers a very informal introduction, used only in a very casual situation, such as on the beach or at a club:

Come ti chiami?
(
koh
-meh tee-
kyah
-mee?) (
What's your name?
)

Chiara. E tu?
(
kyah
-rah. eh tooh?) (
Chiara. And yours?
)

Amedeo.
(ah-meh-
deh
-oh.) (
Amedeo.
)

Introducing other people

Sometimes you not only have to introduce yourself, but also introduce someone to your friends or to other people.

The following vocabulary may be helpful in making introductions. With it, you can indicate the relationship between you and the person you're introducing. Gesturing toward the person and simply saying
mio fratello
(
mee
-oh frah-
tehl
-loh) means, quite simply,
This is my brother.
Following are some other common relationships you may want to reference:

mia sorella
(
mee
-ah soh-
rehl
-lah) (
my sister
)