"Introduce person to object" or "introduce object to person"?

I think the conventional phrasing is, "I'd like to introduce you to this new technology." You can debate the significance of saying it either way, but I think that's how most people say it.


From etymonline's entry for introduction...

The sense of "formal presentation of one person to another" is from 1711.

Obviously there are lots of other usages - you can introduce another variable into [an equation], or introduce a bill [to Parliament/to ban unicorn hunting/etc.], for example.

But I would find both "Let me introduce you to [thing]" and "Let me introduce [thing] to you" equally incorrect/insulting in most contexts. All such usages are based on the definition above, which implies two people meeting and acknowledging each other.

Standard etiquette is you introduce the lower-status person to the one with higher status, but using this form with inanimate objects is usually facetious, mock-ceremonial, or outright sarcastic/rude.


There are obviously differences of opinion here, and I may in the minority in seeing an element of disrespect when someone offers to introduce me to [something] (or indeed, the other way around).

But as to the matter of low/high status, I would just note that Google Books claims over 31,000 hits for "introduced him to the king", but not a single instance of "introduced the king to him".

As to OP's specific question, note that GB claims 4520 hits for "introduced him to the concept", but only 5 for "introduced the concept to him". Whether or not you perceive any "slight" in this usage, the person is invariably introduced to the abstract concept, not the other way around.


You would normally say “I’d like to introduce this technology to you”.

Reversing an introduction could possibly give offense, or create confusion, but many people would never notice the difference. In any case, it would not be in any way ungrammatical.

The meaning of introduce is to “[b]ring a subject to the attention of (someone) for the first time”. (Google Dictionary) This is consistent with the history of the word: introduce was borrowed from a Latin verb with the sense of “to lead (or bring) in”, so literally to bring a subject to someone. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Because you are bringing the technology to a person’s attention, then, the conventional direction of the introduction is “to you”.

The word has also long been used to mean a formal presentation of one person to another; again, the common meaning is “to lead (or bring) in”, and in the case of a formal presentation this may literally mean to bring a person to someone. It has correctly been pointed out in other answers and comments that the social custom is that a subordinate will be introduced to (led to) a superior, not the other way around. In a situation of equality, one social formula is “introduce you to one another”.