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to introduce oneself

to introduce oneself

119 2.0
Say your name and a little about yourself when you meet someone new
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : presentarse
  • Friends, let me introduce myself.
  • First, let me introduce myself
  • introduce oneself and explain
  • introduce oneself by mentioning

Examples

  • I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier.

  • When you approach a senator, introduce yourself and the group that you represent.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Oh, I was actually here to introduce myself to the, uh, new boss.

  • Please allow me to introduce myself.

  • I just wanted to introduce myself.

  • I forgot to introduce myself.

  • After I took his photo, I walked over to him and introduced myself.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself?

  • Come and introduce yourself.

  • Please allow me to introduce oneself at the beginning of the meeting.

How Visible

to emerge
249 3.5
to introduce oneself
119 2.0
to peek
119 1.1

Surface Forms

introduce oneself infinitive
introduced oneself past participle
introducing oneself present participle
introduces oneself third person singular

Morphology

introduce + oneself

The meaning is directly compositional: 'introduce' (to present someone) combined with the reflexive 'oneself' indicates performing that action on one's own person, yielding 'present yourself' or 'state your name.' This is a regular reflexive construction common across languages and follows transparent English morphology and syntax, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Introduce oneself comes from the simple image of introduce as 'bring forward' and oneself as your own person, so imagine stepping into a room and moving forward to tell people who you are. That's why it now means 'present yourself' or 'say your name'.