Lesson 25 · 7 min read
Spanish for Work, Study and Professions
"What do you do?" is one of the first questions anyone asks, and it arrives long before a course usually teaches you to answer it properly. This lesson covers professions, workplace vocabulary, the language of studying, and the polite register that office and interview conversations expect.
1. Saying what you do
Professions take ser, and — unlike English — Spanish drops the article. Soy médico, not soy un médico. Adding the article is not exactly wrong, but it shifts emphasis in a way that sounds odd unless you are singling someone out. Most professions have a feminine form; some, like médico, are increasingly used as médica in both Spain and Latin America.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Soy ingeniero / ingeniera | I am an engineer | Soy ingeniera de software. — I am a software engineer. |
| ¿A qué te dedicas? | What do you do? | Y tú, ¿a qué te dedicas? — And you, what do you do? |
| Trabajo en… | I work in/at… | Trabajo en un hospital. — I work at a hospital. |
| Estoy en paro / desempleado | I'm unemployed | Estoy en paro desde marzo. — I have been unemployed since March. |
| Trabajo por mi cuenta | I'm self-employed | Trabajo por mi cuenta desde hace dos años. — I have been self-employed for two years. |
2. In the office
Workplace Spanish leans heavily on a small set of nouns and a polite register. Note that reunión covers everything from a two-person chat to a formal meeting, and that the usted form is normal with people you have not met, then usually drops to tú quickly once introductions are done — often at the other person’s invitation.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| la reunión | the meeting | Tengo una reunión a las diez. — I have a meeting at ten. |
| el jefe / la jefa | the boss | Mi jefa está de viaje. — My boss is away. |
| el correo | the email | Te mando un correo esta tarde. — I'll send you an email this afternoon. |
| la fecha límite | the deadline | La fecha límite es el viernes. — The deadline is Friday. |
| estar de baja | to be on sick leave | Está de baja esta semana. — He's on sick leave this week. |
3. Studying
Two verbs cause trouble here. Estudiar is the activity of studying; aprender is the result of learning. And the noun for a university degree course is la carrera, which literally means a race — estudio una carrera de Derecho means I am doing a law degree, not that I am running anywhere.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| la carrera | the degree course | Estudio la carrera de Medicina. — I'm doing a medical degree. |
| la asignatura | the subject | Mi asignatura favorita es Historia. — My favourite subject is History. |
| aprobar / suspender | to pass / to fail | Aprobé el examen de español. — I passed the Spanish exam. |
| los apuntes | the (lecture) notes | ¿Me dejas tus apuntes? — Can I borrow your notes? |
| la beca | the scholarship, grant | Conseguí una beca. — I got a scholarship. |
4. In an interview
Interview Spanish is formal and follows predictable beats: your background, your strengths, why this role. The verbs you need most are llevar for duration in a role — llevo tres años en marketing — and the conditional me gustaría for what you want, which is softer and more appropriate than quiero.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Llevo … años en… | I've spent … years in… | Llevo cinco años en el sector. — I have five years in the sector. |
| Me gustaría… | I would like… | Me gustaría trabajar con ustedes. — I would like to work with you. |
| la experiencia | the experience | Tengo experiencia en atención al cliente. — I have experience in customer service. |
| el currículum | the CV, résumé | Le mando mi currículum. — I'll send you my CV. |
| el sueldo | the salary | ¿Cuál es el sueldo aproximado? — What is the approximate salary? |
Common mistakes
Soy un profesor → Soy profesor
Spanish omits the article before an unmodified profession. It comes back only when you add a describing phrase: soy un profesor con mucha paciencia.
Trabajo aquí para tres años → Llevo tres años trabajando aquí
For an ongoing duration Spanish uses llevar plus a gerund, or desde hace. Para tres años would mean the job is scheduled to last three years.
Quiero este trabajo → Me gustaría este puesto
Quiero is blunt in a formal setting. The conditional me gustaría is the register an interview expects, and puesto is the more natural word for a position.