Jobs and Occupations in Spanish: a Complete Guide
Talking about Your Profession in Spanish
“¿En qué trabajas?”
“Soy profesora de inglés.”
Asking someone about their profession or occupation is a common conversation starter in many cultures. Can you talk about your job in Spanish?
With our complete guide, you will be able to engage in a conversation about your profession in Spanish in no time. Learn the different expressions, the conjugation of the two most important verbs, and the different Spanish nouns for professions.
Table of Contents
2. Talking about Your Job in Spanish: Verbs
3. How to Form the Masculine and Feminine of Nouns for Professions in Spanish?
3.1 For masculine nouns that end in -o
3.2 For masculine nouns that end in a consonant
3.3 For nouns that don’t change
3.4 Exceptions
3.5 Practical exercises
¿En qué trabajas?
When getting to know someone, it’s likely that they will ask you about your job. In this section, you will learn to ask for someone’s job in Spanish and answer this question for yourself.
When you ask for someone’s profession, you will probably ask one of the following questions:
- ¿A qué te dedicas? - What do you do?
- ¿Cuál es tu profesión? - What is your job?
- ¿Qué haces? - What do you do?
- ¿En qué trabajas? - What do you do?
The answer to these questions is very straightforward:
-
¿A qué te dedicas? / ¿Cuál es tu profesión? / ¿Qué haces?
Soy profesora de inglés. - I am an English teacher. -
¿En qué trabajas?
Trabajo en el sector bancario. - I work in the banking sector.
Another question people could ask you is:
- ¿Dónde trabajas? - Where do you work?
The answer is very simple. You just use the verb TRABAJAR + en:
In the following section about verbs we use to talk about professions, you will learn how to conjugate the verb TRABAJAR
- Trabajo en una peluquería. - I work in a hairdressing salon.
For more information, you can also ask someone what their job is like and if they like it.
-
¿Cómo es tu trabajo? - What is your job like?
Mi trabajo es muy estresante. - My job is very stressful. -
¿Qué tal va tu trabajo? - How is your job going?
Genial. Me gusta mi trabajo. - Great! I like my job. -
¿Te gusta tu trabajo? - Do you like your job?
No me gusta nada mi trabajo. - I don’t like my job at all. -
¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de tu trabajo? - What do you like the most about your job?
Me gustan mucho mis compañeros de trabajo. - I like my coworkers a lot. -
¿Qué es lo que menos te gusta? - What do you like the least (about your job)?
No me gusta el horario de trabajo. - I don’t like the working hours.
Other questions and their respective answers you can use in a conversation are:
-
¿Cuál es tu horario de trabajo? - What are your working hours?
Trabajo de 9:00 a 17:00. - I work from 9 to 5. -
¿Qué quieres ser de mayor? - What would you like to be when you grow up?
De mayor quiero ser policía. - I want to be a police officer when I grow up. -
¿Qué te gustaría hacer en… años? - What would you like to be doing in… years’ time?
En 5 años me gustaría tener mi propia panadería. - In 5 years I would like to have my own bakery.
Talking about Your Job in Spanish: Verbs
In Spanish you will mostly use the verbs TRABAJAR or DEDICARSE to talk about your profession. These verbs are both regular and end in -ar. To conjugate these verbs, we just remove the infinitive ending (-ar) and add the ending that matches the subject.
| Trabajar | Dedicarse | |
|---|---|---|
|
Yo |
trabajo |
me dedico |
|
Tú |
trabajas |
te dedicas |
|
Él / Ella / Usted |
trabaja |
se dedica |
|
Nosotros / Nosotras |
trabajamos |
nos dedicamos |
|
Vosotros / Vosotras |
trabajáis |
os dedicáis |
|
Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes |
trabajan |
se dedican |
Of course, you can also keep it simple and use the verb to be, SER, to state your profession:
- Soy profesora. - I'm a teacher.
- Me dedico a la enseñanza. - I work in education. / I'm dedicated to teaching.
- Trabajo en una escuela. - I work in a school.
✏️ Test Your Knowledge
How to Form the Masculine and Feminine of Nouns for Professions in Spanish?
First, have a look at this video, where you will find a list of professions in Spanish, how to pronounce them and how to form the masculine and feminine forms.
The Spanish nouns that describe your job follow basic Spanish grammar rules. Normally, the noun changes according to the gender of the person referred to, but of course, there are exceptions.
Masculine nouns that end in -o
Masculine nouns that end in -o can be made feminine by changing the ending to -a. The most common are:
- There are a few exceptions where the -o ending doesn’t change. The best thing you can do is to learn them by heart:
El piloto → la piloto – The pilot
El modelo → la modelo – The model
- Some nouns always end in -a, no matter if they are masculine or feminine. (Most of these end in -ta).
El/la atleta – The athlete
El/la psiquiatra – The psychiatrist
El/la poeta – The poet
El/la terapeuta – The therapist
Masculine nouns that end in a consonant
Because gender equality is important, a lot of nouns that only used to have a masculine ending now also appear with a feminine one.
El presidente → la presidenta – The president
Nouns that end in a consonant in the masculine form can be made feminine by adding an -a at the end of the word. We have made a list of the most common ones:
Nouns that don't change
In this case, the noun stays the same in the masculine and feminine, only the article changes to match the person’s gender. These nouns mostly end in –ista, -e or -ía. Here are some of the most common nouns that follow this rule:
The most common exceptions to this rule are:
el dependiente → la dependienta – the salesman / the saleswoman
el alcalde → la alcaldesa – the mayor
el duque → la duquesa – the duke / the duchess
el jefe → la jefa – the boss
el presidente → la presidenta – the president
Exceptions
Spanish wouldn’t be Spanish, if there weren’t exceptions. Some job nouns have an irregular feminine form:
El actor → la actriz – The actor / the actress
El emperador → la emperatriz – The emperor / the empress
El rey → la reina – The king / the queen
✏️ Test Your Knowledge
Complete List of Occupations
You have now been introduced to a few professions in the grammar section, but, of course, there are many more jobs. Take a look at the following video to learn more Spanish professions, their pronunciations, and how to form the masculine and feminine forms.
And If You Don’t Have a Job?
Of course, not everyone has a job. This can be for several reasons:
- Estoy... - I'm ...
- desempleado(a). - unemployed.
- buscando trabajo. - looking for work.
- buscando un empleo. - looking for a job.
- No estoy trabajando en este momento. - I'm not working at the moment.
- Me han despedido. - I've been fired.
- Estoy jubilado(a). - I'm retired.
- Estoy haciendo prácticas. - I'm doing work experience.
- Soy becario(a). - I'm an intern.
- Soy ama de casa. - I'm a housewife.
- Soy estudiante. - I'm a student.
With this blogpost, you are fully prepared to have a conversation about jobs and occupations in Spanish. Check more blogposts about Spanish below or in our blog section!
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