Talking about yourself in English

Our first learning English article explained how to greet people correctly.

When you are talking to people, you will probably want to tell them some things about yourself.

To say what your name is, use I’m … or, in a slightly more formal situation, My name’s … .

     Hi, I’m Tariq – I’m a friend of Susi.
     I’m Paul – I’m your teacher.
     My name’s Johann.
     My name’s Yuko – I’m Kazuo’s sister.

If you want to say how old you are, use I’m … . You can just say a number, or you can add … years old after the number.

     I’m twenty-two.
     I’m thirty-seven years old.

We generally don’t usually ask adults their age. If you want to ask a child their age, use How old are you? .

To give general information about yourself, use I’m … .

     I’m a friend of Paolo’s.
     I’m married.
     I’m interested in old cars.

To talk about your work, use I’m … with the name of a job, or I work … to say something more general about what you do.

     I’m a doctor.
     I’m a bus driver.
     I work for an oil company.
     I work in Paris.
     I work as a translator.

If you want to ask someone what their job is, use What do you do?.

To talk about where you live, use I live … or I’m from … . I’m from … is also used to talk about where you were born and lived as a child, even if you do not live there now.

     I live in Wales.
     We live near Moscow.
     I’m from Poland, but I live in Paris now.
     We’re from Manchester.

To ask someone where they live, use Where do you live? or Where are you from?.

Useful words
an adult: a fully grown person
married: having a husband or wife

Come back next time, where we will be looking at how you can ask people for information.

Other Articles

How to use ‘Used to’

The verb used to is a ‘marginal’ modal verb. Unlike the other modal verbs, it is only found in the past tense. Therefore, when it is used with do to make negatives and questions, the form of the auxiliary verb is always did.  Used to is used as follows:  to describe an activity or a state that… Read More

Use of Shall and Will

The normal way to express simple future time in English is using the modal verb will followed by the base form of a main verb. The modal verb shall can be used with the pronouns I and we, especially in questions, but is not used very much in modern English. Shall I bring you some tea?… Read More

Each/Every/Either/Neither

The words each, every, either, and neither are distributives. Distributives are determiners that are used to talk about how something is shared out or divided. Each, every, either, and neither are used with a singular noun. Each child was given a balloon. I remember every detail of our conversation. Either child could win the prize. Neither plan was successful. Each and every Each and every are not used… Read More