Las profesiones: introducción

Para decir nuestra profesión u ocupación, usamos el verbo SER (to be).

¿Recuerdas el verbo ser? Do you remember the verb to be?

Es un verbo completamente irregular en presente:

Yo soy (I am)

Tú eres (You are)

Él/ella es (He/she is)

Usted es (You are - formal)

Nosotros/-as somos (We are)

Vosotros/-as sois (You all are)

Ellos/-as son (They are)

Ustedes son (You all are - formal)

Para preguntar por (to ask for) la profesión de una persona:

¿Qué haces? (What do you do?)

¿En qué trabajas? (In what field do you work?)

¿A qué te dedicas? (What do you do?)

¿Cuál es tu profesión? (What is your profession?)

En mi caso (in my case), yo respondo:

Soy profesora (I am a professor).

En tu caso (in your case):

Soy estudiante (I am a student).

Note 1: in Spanish, when we are just stating a profession, we do not use any articles. We do not say "soy una profesora" but "soy profesora".

However, we use the definite article if we want to point out our uniqueness:

Soy la profesora de español (I am the Spanish professor: implying that I am the only one teaching Spanish here).

And we use the indefinite article to point out that we belong to a specific category in the wider group.

Soy una profesora española (I am a professor from Spain: conveying that I am not only a professor, but also that I am Spanish).

Note 2: There are many professions and it is rather difficult to list them all (let alone learning them!). So here is a good tip for you: be smart and selective. I have made glossaries with professions grouped by field: take it slow and start learning the professions that you feel are most important for your personal communication needs. I have highlighted the professions which I think a student should know before moving into an intermediate level (A2) .