Let’s talk about jobs – Berufe!
When you meet Germans and have a lovely conversation with them, they might want to know what job you have. Or you might be nosy and want to know what they do!
The questions you might hear or could use are as follows (I give you both versions, the formal you question first if you need to use ‘Sie’, but also the informal question, if they or you use ‘du’)
Sind Sie berufstätig?
Bist du berufstätig?
(Do you have a job?)
Arbeiten Sie?
Arbeitest du?
(Do you work?)
Was sind Sie von Beruf?
Was bist du von Beruf?
(What job do you do?)
Was machen Sie beruflich?
Was machst du beruflich?
(Also means ‘What job do you do?’)
When it comes to answering these questions, I can give you some basic answers. As you can imagine, job titles have changed hugely in recent years. If your job happens to be one of those I mention, great, if not, hopefully you’ll find it in a dictionary (or ask me).
The important thing, however, is that unlike in English, where we say ‘I am a …’, in German we don’t translate the ‘a’, and just say ‘I am’ and then the job.
Another important thing is, that, just like with nationalities, we have a male and female version of the job description. Most of the time a woman will just add an ‘in’ to the job, like in these examples:
Ich bin ..
- Baumchirurg/ Baumchirurgin – tree surgeon
- Frisör/ Frisörin – hairdresser
- Journalist/ Journalistin – journalist
- Kellner Kellnerin – waiter
- Lehrer/ Lehrerin – teacher
- Manager/ Managerin – manager
- Maurer/ Maurerin – bricklayer
- Musiker/ Musikerin – musician
- Tischler/ Tischlerin – carpenter
- Verkäufer/ Verkäuferin – shop assistant
Exceptions – yes, of course, there are exceptions! This is the German language we’re talking about 😄
Some one-syllable words of jobs containing an a, o or u add an umlaut when you add another syllable. This applies to many words, not just jobs or nouns (eg. alt – älter).
- •Arzt/ Ärztin – doctor
- •Koch/ Köchin – cook, chef
And, like in English sometimes, there are jobs with two different descriptions:
- Angestellter/ Angestellte – employee
- Hausmann/ Hausfrau – househusband/ housewife
- Bankkaufmann/ Bankkauffrau – bank clerk
- Feuerwehrmann/ Feuerwehrfrau – fireman/ woman
- Krankenpfleger/ Krankenpflegerin – nurse
Now that you (hopefully) can say what your job is, here are a few more questions, people might ask. Again, I’m giving you the formal question first, follwed by the informal one.
Wo arbeiten Sie?
Wo arbeitest du?
(Where do you work?)
Possible answer: Ich arbeite bei BMW/ Wallmarkt. You could also add the town where you work. Ich arbeite bei Asda in Bristol.
Seit wann arbeiten Sie dort?
Seit wann arbeitest du dort?
(Since when do you work there?)
Possible answer: Seit einem Jahr/ zwei Jahren
Or people might ask:
Arbeiten Sie oder studieren Sie?
Arbeitest du oder studierst du?
(Do you work or study?)
Possible answers:
Ich arbeite. I work.
Ich studiere. I’m studying.
Ich bin arbeitslos. I’m unemployed
Ich bin Rentner/ Rentnerin. I am a pensioner/ retired.
How could you talk about your job in German?
Here’s are two possible answers of mine:
- Ich bin seit 18 Jahren Deutschlehrerin bei Angelika’s German Tuition & Translation.
- Ich arbeite seit 18 Jahren als selbstständige Deutschlehrerin.
What about you?
If you need help with pronunciation or just want to go through all these phrases/ sentences again, you can watch this video. It has been taken from my online course Beginners’ German – the next 30 days Check it out and if you like to learn more, use the coupon code BLOGPOST to get 10% off.
