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How to ask "What do you do?" in Chinese - 20 Questions to Basic Fluency #3
Welcome back to "20 Questions to Basic Fluency." If you haven't answered the first two questions in the series, take some time to go back and answer when you get a chance.
Today's question is about professions. There are a few different ways to ask about this in Chinese, as well as in English, depending on the information you are looking for. Here is the most general way to ask, "What do you do?"
Q: 你是做什么的？
Nǐ shì zuò shénme de?
What do you do?
A: 我是老师。
Wǒ shì lǎoshī.
I am a
teacher.
When you answer, just add your profession at the end of the sentence. Here are some professions.
学生 －Xuéshēng - student
老师－Lǎoshī - teacher
商人 - Shāngrén - business person
秘书 - Mìshū - secretary
会计 - Kuàijì - accounting
记者 - Jìzhě - journalist
厨师 - Chúshī - chef
科学家 - Kēxuéjiā - scientist
医生 - Yīshēng - doctor
护士 - Hùshì - nurse
牙科医生 - Yá kē yīshēng - dentist
工程师 - Gōngchéngshī - engineer
技术人员 - Jìshù rényuán - tech staff
律师 - Lǜshī - lawyer
音乐家 - Yīnyuè jiā - musician
演员 - Yǎnyuán - actor/actress
艺术家 - Yìshùjiā - artist
退休 - Tuìxiū - retired (This answer is a little different. To say you are retired say:
我退休了。
Wǒ tuìxiūle.
I'm retired.
Of course there are a lot of other jobs out there to talk about. If you've got a question about how to say a profession in Chinese include it in your reply. Below are two other common ways to ask about professions with their answers:
Q: 你做什么工作?
Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?
What's your job?
A: 我是老师。 (same as above)
Q: 你在哪儿工作？
Nǐ zài nǎ'er gōngzuò?
Where do you work?
A: 我在学校工作。
Wǒ zài xuéxiào gōngzuò.
I work at a school
Ok, give it a whirl. Let us know what you do in the reply below. If you are beyond the basic level, feel free to add a more descriptive reply about what you do or add some new information. We look forward to hearing what you do!
(photo credit Mart1n)
Comment
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Comment by Ethan Nelson on February 21, 2013 at 3:40am -
你是做什么的？
我现在是学生在大学。
How would I say "I also work part-time"?
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Comment by Ruaridh Maxwell/麦儒睿 on June 15, 2012 at 9:22am -
我是医学生，在圣安德鲁斯医学院上学。
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Comment by Melina Abarca on May 19, 2012 at 8:48am -
我 是 学生 。:)
我 在 SYKES 工作。
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Comment by Ma Ji Ya on March 5, 2012 at 10:52am -
我是英语家庭教师。
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Founder Comment by Brandon on March 5, 2012 at 7:24am -
Hey sikora - just fyi, this post got an additional 6 likes when shared on Facebook & this comment added. Keep up the great work.
Tony W. Awesome...Thank you...I am learning some things new to me...:)
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Admin Comment by sikora on March 3, 2012 at 2:31am -
Xiao Ke Ai, 太棒了！ 加油！
André, I don't know how to include mp3's on the blog here, but you can copy and paste any Chinese characters into Google Translate and listen to them. The sound quality isn't perfect, but it will give you a good idea of how to pronounce the characters and sentences you need to hear.
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Comment by André Pereira da Silva on March 2, 2012 at 9:42pm -
Good. Can you includo sound ? Like .mp3 for hearing how to say ...
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Comment by Xiao Ke Ai on March 2, 2012 at 2:41pm -
我是学生，救生员还有游泳老师。=)
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Comment by Júlia Baló on December 22, 2011 at 8:06am -
Nice, thank you :)
Have a beautiful day!
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