Vocabulary: work and jobs

Fundamental verbs.

In Spanish, as in every language, there are many verbs used to refer to work activity. In this article we’ll look at the most commonly used ones, that is, the ones you’ll most likely use to talk about your own job and the ones you’ll most often hear when someone wants to know how you make a living. And since I think it’s better to start with the hard part, let’s look at the verb dedicarse. This verb is reflexive and is always used with the preposition a. It’s used much more often to ask about someone else’s job than to talk about your own. Let’s look at its conjugation:

Yo me dedico a. (I… for a living)
Tú te dedicas a. (You… for a living)
Él/Ella/Usted se dedica a. (He/She/You [formal]… for a living)
Nosotros/as nos dedicamos a. (We… for a living)
Vosotros/as os dedicais a. (You all [Spain]… for a living)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes se dedican a. (They/You all [formal]… for a living)

As I mentioned before, it’s very commonly used to ask how someone makes a living. So the most common way someone will ask you this is ¿A qué te dedicas? (What do you do for a living?) Although it can be used to answer that question, it’s more usual not to use it that way. If you do use it to answer, the structure is dedicarse a + infinitive: me dedico a enseñar español (I teach Spanish for a living).

Another way someone might ask what you do for a living is with the verb trabajar, using the preposition de. ¿De qué trabajas? (What do you work as?) You can use the verb trabajar to answer this question too, using either the preposition de or the conjunction como + job. Trabajo de/como profesor (I work as a teacher). Trabajo de/como cajero en un supermercado (I work as a cashier in a supermarket). Watch out: the conjunction como is not used to ask about someone’s job. Let’s look at the conjugation of the verb trabajar.

Yo trabajo. (I work)
Tú trabajas. (You work)
Él/Ella/Usted trabaja. (He/She/You [formal] works)
Nosotros/as trabajamos. (We work)
Vosotros/as trabajáis. (You all [Spain] work)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes trabajan. (They/You all [formal] work)

And the third verb we’ll look at here is the verb ser. This one isn’t used to ask about someone’s profession: no one will ask you ¿qué eres? (what are you?) But it’s very commonly used to express our occupation: ser + profession or trade. Soy profesor de español (I’m a Spanish teacher), soy cajero en un supermercado (I’m a cashier in a supermarket).

To introduce the place where we work we use the preposition en: trabajo en una academia de idiomas (I work at a language academy), trabajo en un supermercado (I work in a supermarket). And to introduce the company we work for, we use the preposition para: trabajo para Siemens (I work for Siemens). Here you can read more about the differences between por and para, something that tends to be a headache for those learning Spanish.

Below you’ll find a list of work-related vocabulary. Of course it doesn’t cover 100% of the vocabulary, but it’s a fairly extensive list divided by area of activity.