Professions come up early in almost every conversation: someone asks “What do you do?” Here are the job words and short phrases you need to answer.
Job words with a or an
- a teachersomeone who teaches in a school
- a doctortreats people who are ill
- a nurseworks with doctors and looks after patients
- an engineerdesigns and builds machines, roads or systems
- a cookprepares food, often in a restaurant
- a driverdrives people or goods for work
- a police officerkeeps order and protects people
- a pilotflies an airplane
- a farmergrows crops or raises animals
- an artistpaints, draws or makes art
- a dentisttakes care of teeth
- a hairdressercuts and styles hair
Most job words are the same for men and women: a teacher can be a man or a woman. If you need to stress gender, say a female doctor or a male nurse, but this is rarely needed.
How to say what you do
The question What do you do? asks about your job. These short answers work in most situations:
- I’m a teacher. — The simplest answer.
- I work as a nurse. — The same job, said a little more formally.
- I work in a hospital. — Your workplace. Use in or at: at a school.
- I’m a student, and I work part-time. — When you study and have a job too.
I work describes the job you have now (Present Simple). For a past job, use the past tense: I worked as a driver for two years. For the tense rules, see our Present Simple guide.
Put a or an before a job name: I’m a nurse, not I’m nurse. Learners often drop the article because many languages don’t use one. Use an before a vowel sound: an engineer, an artist.
Check yourself
Answer in English, then reveal the answer:
1.Fill in: I’m ___ artist. (a or an?)
Answer
I’m an artist.
2.Fill in: He works ___ a driver.
Answer
He works as a driver.
3.Ask someone what their job is.
Answer
What do you do?
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