👨⚕️ Jobs - Trabajos
Beginner Spanish · Jobs and work
Jobs and Professions in Spanish
Talking about work gets much easier when you learn a few useful question-and-answer patterns instead of memorizing a long list of professions. Start by asking what someone does, saying your profession, and talking about where you work.
Your next small win: ask what someone does for a living, say a profession, ask where someone works, and describe a simple work situation.
Start with the conversation
What Do You Do?
Use these patterns when meeting someone and talking about work.
What do you do for a living?
I am a teacher.
I am a doctor.
Where do you work?
I work from home.
Useful pattern: Spanish commonly uses ser + profesión. When simply stating a profession, the lesson uses forms such as Soy profesor and Soy médica, without un or una.
Say your profession
Imagine that you are an architect. Use Soy... to answer.
Soy arquitecto.
Soy arquitecta.
Build your job vocabulary
Common Jobs and Professions
Learn a compact group first. You can add more professions once these feel familiar.
Teacher
Doctor
Nurse
Cook
Programmer
Engineer
Lawyer
Dentist
More professions
Police officer
Driver
Firefighter
Photographer
Scientist
Artist
Journalist
Writer
Architect
Mechanic
Accountant
Salesperson
Waiter / waitress
Farmer
Regional vocabulary: the source also notes that job titles can vary across Spanish-speaking regions. For example, different terms may be used for restaurant staff.
Notice the job-title forms
Professions and Gender
Many profession words have different masculine and feminine forms. Other profession words keep the same form, with surrounding words helping show who is being described.
Professions that change form
Teacher
Doctor
Engineer
Architect
Professions that can keep the same form
The male dentist / the female dentist
The male artist / the female artist
The male journalist / the female journalist
Choose the right profession form
Your female neighbor is a scientist. Complete Mi vecina es...
Mi vecina es científica.
Move from the job to the workplace
Talking About Work
Once you can say what someone does, add simple information about where and how they work.
Job / work
Office
Company
Schedule
Boss
Coworker
I work from home.
I have an important meeting today.
More workplace vocabulary
Salary
Worker
Client
Contract
Project
Put work into conversation
Everyday Work Conversations
These exchanges combine professions with simple information about the work itself.
Meeting someone new
What do you do for a living?
I'm an architect. I design houses and buildings.
Talking about the workplace
Do you work in an office?
No, I work from home three days a week.
Build a short work introduction
Say what your profession is, then add where you work.
Soy programadora.
Trabajo desde casa.
More jobs in context
My neighbor is a scientist and works in a laboratory.
The photographer travels around the city looking for interesting places.
The mechanic is repairing my brother's car.
My grandfather was a writer and still keeps his old notebooks.
Your turn · 8 quick questions
Practice: Jobs and Work
Choose the phrase that fits each situation. Focus on profession names, ser + profesión, job-title forms, and basic workplace questions.
Practice complete
You can talk about jobs and work.
A few work phrases to revisit
One last step: talk about a job without choices.
Choose a profession. Say what the person does, where they work, or one thing they do at work.
Soy arquitecta.
Trabajo en una oficina.
Diseño casas y edificios.
You meet someone new and want to know what they do for a living. What do you ask?
- ¿A qué te dedicas?
- ¿Dónde trabajas?
- ¿Trabajas en una oficina?
- ¿Cuál es tu horario?
¿A qué te dedicas? asks about someone's profession or occupation.
¿A qué te dedicas? = What do you do for a living?
You are a female architect. Which answer follows the lesson pattern?
- Soy arquitecta.
- Soy un arquitecta.
- Soy arquitecto.
- Estoy arquitecta.
The lesson uses ser + profesión and the feminine form arquitecta.
Soy arquitecta. = I am an architect.
You work from home three days a week. Which sentence matches?
- Trabajo desde casa tres días a la semana.
- Soy desde casa tres días a la semana.
- Trabajo una casa tres días a la semana.
- Tengo trabajo casa tres días.
Trabajo desde casa means “I work from home.”
Trabajo desde casa. = I work from home.
You are a woman and want to say “I am a doctor.” Which sentence fits the lesson?
- Soy médica.
- Soy una médica.
- Soy médico.
- Tengo médica.
Médica is the feminine profession form, and the lesson normally omits una after soy when simply stating the profession.
Soy médica. = I am a doctor.
You want to know where someone works. What do you ask?
- ¿Dónde trabajas?
- ¿A qué te dedicas?
- ¿Cuántos años tienes?
- ¿Dónde está tu jefe?
¿Dónde trabajas? means “Where do you work?”
¿Dónde trabajas? = Where do you work?
You have an important meeting today. Which sentence matches?
- Hoy tengo una reunión importante.
- Hoy soy una reunión importante.
- Hoy trabajo una reunión importante.
- Hoy estoy reunión importante.
The lesson uses tener una reunión for “to have a meeting.”
Hoy tengo una reunión importante.
Your female neighbor is a scientist. Which form agrees correctly?
- Mi vecina es científica.
- Mi vecina es científico.
- Mi vecino es científica.
- Mi vecina soy científica.
Científica is the feminine form used with vecina.
Mi vecina es científica.
Which profession from the lesson can keep the same form while the article shows gender?
- dentista
- profesor
- ingeniero
- cocinero
The lesson shows el dentista and la dentista using the same profession form.
el dentista / la dentista