How to talk about myself in German?

At school, at a new job, on the street and even on the subway, you can meet someone or even the man/woman of your dreams. But how do you introduce yourself so you don’t seem too talkative or overly secretive? What can you say about yourself in general? In what order? How to ask? If you want to learn how to conquer new acquaintances from the first words, this post is made for you!

We constantly have to meet someone and talk about ourselves, so instead of avoiding new meetings, it is better to stock up on new vocabulary and build the structure of the correct dialogue.

Name, age, the place you come from, profession, marital status and hobbies. How can you tell that in such a way that it is interesting and memorable, so that, on occasion, you can amaze everyone? Let’s figure it out together!

Where to begin?

If you are planning not just an acquaintance, but a whole “performance” where you need to conduct almost a monologue about yourself, then you can start with a small introduction:

Was kann ich über mich selbst erzählen? – What can I tell about myself?
Was könnte man über mich erzählen? – What can you say about me?

But, as a rule, an ordinary acquaintance begins easier and you are asked “Who are you?” or “What is your name?”, so get ready to start your story all the same with the mention of your first and last name :

Ich heiße Peter Müller. – My name is Peter Müller.
Mein Name ist Peter Müller. – My name is Peter Müller.
Müller ist mein Nachname, Peter ist mein Vorname. – My surname is Müller, my name is Peter.
Nennen Sie mich einfach Peter. – Just call me Peter.
Sie können mich einfach Peter nennen. – You can just call me Peter.

In a more formal setting, use phrases such as:

Ich möchte mich kurz vorstellen. – I would like to introduce myself.
Erlauben Sie mir bitte mich kurz vorzustellen. – Let me introduce myself.

What comes next?

Then it is usually customary to say how old you are, where you are from, what you do. Let’s look at it in order.

• Age

Some girls are embarrassed to talk directly about their age, so you can elegantly wrap the phrase about the fact that “a lady is always eighteen”: Man sagt, Frauen seien immer achtzehn Jahre alt…

If your age does not bother you at all, speak directly:
Ich bin (zwanzig) Jahre alt. – I am twenty years old.
Ich bin nicht zu alt und nicht zu jung – I’m not too old and not too young
Ich bin noch jung genug, um… – I’m still young enough to… 

• Where are you from and where are you heading to?

Having named your city, where you come from, you can immediately add a few words about where it is and what it is remarkable for, or how many inhabitants there are if it is a big city. Here are a couple of useful phrases for this case:

• Das ist die drittgrößte Stadt Finnlands – This is the third largest city in Finland.
• Das ist eine Millionenstadt – This is a millionaire city.
• Das liegt in Spanien und ja, es ist echt heiß da bei uns im Sommer – This is in Spain and yes, it is really hot in summer here!

• What are you doing there?

Here you can already give freedom to your imagination and give out as much information about yourself as you want! Moreover, it all depends on the specific situation. Let’s start with the formal facts, such as place of work, position , etc.:

Ich bin Präsident der Europäischen Zentralbank – I am the head (chairman) of the European Central Bank. 

Ich arbeite als Finanzdirektor bei einer Bankfiliale in Wien – I’m the CFO of a Moscow Vienna.

What more can be said? Perhaps something simpler… and here I can help you too:

• Ich bin Finanzdirektor bei A. – I am the financial director of A.
• Ich bin ein selbständiger Unternehmer. – I have my own business.
• Ich arbeite als Kellnerin / Friseur / Taxi-Fahrer. – I work as a waitress/hairdresser/taxi driver.
• Ich bin Hausfrau. – I am a housewife. 
• Ich bin Student. – I am a student. 
• Ich studiere an… – I study in… (university, institute, etc.)
• Ich gehe in die Schule. – I go to school.
• Ich bin Praktikant bei… – I am doing an internship in…

By the way, get ready to be attacked with different questions after talking about your profession. People will probably attack you: Where exactly do you work? How long ago did you start working? Who exactly do you work as? Do you like the job? We advise you to arm yourself in advance.

• If asked: Wo arbeitest du jetzt? – do not limit yourself to the name of the company, because it can say little to the interlocutor (only if you do not work for Google). It is better to immediately say general information about the company, what kind of place it is, what it does:

• Ich arbeite in / bei der Bank. – I work in a Bank.
• Ich arbeite bei einer deutschen Firma. – I work for a German company.

• To the question: Welche Position hast du? – describe your responsibilities immediately, so that you do not have to speak about it for a long time.

• Ich arbeite als… – I work (in a position)…
• Ich beschäftige mich mit… – I work…

• If someone asks Was gefällt dir an deinem Job? – do not answer in monosyllables about your attitude to work , it is better to immediately give arguments why you like it or why not, for example, tell what a friendly team you have and how fun corporate parties are.

• Ich liebe meinen Job, weil ich immer etwas Neues lerne. – I love my job, because I always learn something new. 
• Ich liebe meinen Job, weil ich so nette Kollegen habe.– I love my job because I have nice colleagues.

In fact, here the list of imagination can be long, it all depends on what image you want to create for yourself, because everything is only in your hands!

Publicly about personal

Here comes a chapter about your personal life – what you want to show off to others or what you are not ashamed to say.
At first, you can say a few words about your qualities, do not be shy, but do not overdo it, do not reveal all the cards to your interlocutor at once, let your bad qualities become an unexpected surprise for him!

• Ich bin sehr schüchtern. – I am very humble / shy.
• Ich liebe Abenteuer! – I love adventure!

Talking about yourself, you can somehow joke, otherwise it’s all about work, but about work… By the way, check this joke:

• Ich bin eine Mischung aus Albert Einstein und Arnold Schwarzenegger. – vom Schwarzenegger das Gehirn und vom Einstein die Figur. – I am a mixture of Albert Einstein and Arnold Schwarzenegger: I have a brain like Schwarzenegger and a figure like Einstein.

• Attraktiv, wohlhabend, intelligent, geistreich, sportlich, elegant, sensibel, humorvoll, welterfahren und erfolgreich… bin ich NICHT. Aber nett und liebevoll bin ich trotzdem. – Attractive, wealthy, intelligent, witty, sporty, elegant, sensitive, with a sense of humor and broad-minded, successful… it’s NOT ABOUT ME. But nevertheless I am sweet and affectionate.

Talking about the marital status at the first meeting, it is rather strange, but suddenly you have far-reaching plans for a new acquaintance, then immediately say:

• Übrigens … ich bin single / ledig. – By the way… I’m single/not married.

Well, don’t forget to dilute it saying deshalb bin ich heute hier allein. Otherwise, your interlocutor may have a feeling that you have given some strange information and what to do with it at all?!

If you already have a family, then share it needed:

• Ich bin verheiratet. – I am married / married.
• Ich habe eine Familie. – I have a family.

By the way, do not forget to tell about the languages ​​that you speak.
To do this, you need to remember the universal phrase: Ich spreche or Ich kann Deutsch/Englisch , which means “I speak German/English”. Can you specify how good it is: gut – good, noch schlecht – still bad, nur ein wenig – quite a bit.

When you don’t want to end an interesting conversation, you can reinforce it, for example, with a hobby topic. Ask your new friend: Was sind deine Hobbys?/ What hobbies do you have?. Simply share what you do in your free time:

• Ich mag joggen. – I like running.
• Ich lese gern. – I enjoy reading.
• Am Wochenende gehe ich immer klettern. – On weekends I always go climbing.
• Mein Hobby ist das Reiten. – My hobby is horse riding.

It is impossible to predict what turn will follow such a beginning. Then you can tell as much as you like about your brothers and sisters, football – fortunately, each of us is full of our favorite activities and hobbies. So everything is in your hands!