Jobs and Work
Learn 20 easy A1 English words for jobs and work - engineer, manager, salary, colleague, interview - with examples, a story and a quiz.
“What do you do?” is the second question anybody asks you in English, right after your name. Answering it needs one small word that many languages do not use in the same way – the word a. Learn these 20 job words, read the tutor box carefully, and then come to a family gathering where nobody does the same thing.
20 words to learn
The 20 words
/dʒɒb/
The work you do for money. Countable: a good job, two jobs.
She got a new job in March.
/ˈɒfɪs/
The room or building where people work at desks.
His office is on the fourth floor.
/ˈtiːtʃə(r)/
A person whose job is teaching.
My mother was a teacher for twenty-two years.
/ˌendʒɪˈnɪə(r)/
A person who designs and builds machines, roads or systems.
My sister is an engineer.
/ˈdraɪvə(r)/
A person whose job is driving a car, bus or lorry.
The bus driver knows everybody’s name.
/ˈfɑːmə(r)/
A person who grows food or keeps animals.
My uncle is a farmer.
/ˈʃɒp əsɪstənt/
A person who helps customers in a shop. Americans say sales clerk.
She works as a shop assistant at the weekend.
/kʊk/
A person whose job is making food. In a restaurant, a chef.
The cook starts at five in the morning.
/pəˈliːs ɒfɪsə(r)/
A person whose job is keeping people safe.
A police officer stopped the car.
/ˈmænɪdʒə(r)/
The person who organises a team or a shop.
Ask the manager if you can change it.
/ˈlɔːjə(r)/
A person who knows the law and helps people with it.
My cousin is a lawyer.
/ˈbɪldə(r)/
A person who builds houses.
My father has been a builder for thirty years.
/məˈkænɪk/
A person who repairs cars and machines.
The mechanic said it was the battery.
/ˈheədresə(r)/
A person who cuts and styles hair.
Our hairdresser talks more than anybody.
/bɒs/
The person in charge of you at work. Less formal than manager.
My boss is on holiday this week.
/ˈkɒliːɡ/
A person you work with. Say KOL-eeg.
I have lunch with my colleagues every day.
/ˈsæləri/
The money you get for your job, usually every month.
The work is hard but the salary is good.
/ˈɪntəvjuː/
The meeting where a company decides whether to give you the job.
I have an interview on Tuesday.
/ˈkʌmpəni/
A business that people work for.
She works for a large company.
/ˈjuːnɪfɔːm/
The special clothes some jobs require.
Nurses and police officers wear a uniform.
Now read the story
Story · all 20 words
And What Do You Do?
At every family gathering somebody eventually asks the same question: “And what do you do?” In my family the full answer takes about ten minutes, because no two people have the same job.
My father is a builder. He has worked on half the houses on our street and he can tell you exactly which walls were built wrong and by whom. My mother was a teacher for twenty-two years, and even now she quietly corrects the grammar of people on television. My uncle is a farmer two hours north of here, and he believes that all of us work too little and sleep far too much.
My oldest sister is an engineer for a large company that builds water systems. She has an office with a window, a manager she likes, and a boss she has met exactly twice – and she says the middle one matters more than the other two. Her salary is good. She is also permanently, magnificently tired.
My brother is a mechanic and can hear what is wrong with a car before he opens it. My cousin Lina is a lawyer and enjoys arguing so much that we no longer let her start. Her husband is a police officer and wears a uniform that my nephew is absolutely not allowed to touch. Another cousin is a hairdresser and cuts everybody’s hair before every wedding for nothing, which is exactly why she is the family favourite.
And me? Last month I sat in a small warm room in front of three people for my first real interview. They asked me why I wanted the job and I told them the truth, which was that I did not know yet but I wanted to find out. On Sunday I start as a shop assistant. There is a cook in the kitchen at the back and a driver who arrives at six every morning, and after four days they are already my favourite colleagues.
Jobs always take a or an. This is the single most common mistake with this topic:
✓ She is a teacher. ✗ She is teacher.
✓ He is an engineer. ✗ He is engineer.
Use an before a vowel sound: an engineer, an accountant, an officer.
Job or work? Job is countable, work is not:
✓ I have a good job. I have two jobs.
✓ I have a lot of work today. ✗ I have a work. / many works
Three ways to say where you work:
I work in a bank / in an office (the place)
I work for a large company (the employer)
I work as a shop assistant (the role)
Job endings: most jobs end in -er (teacher, driver, builder, manager), some in -or (doctor, actor), some in -ist (dentist, journalist). And colleague is said KOL-eeg – the ue at the end is silent.
Jobs: teacher, engineer, driver, farmer, shop assistant, cook, police officer, manager, lawyer, builder, mechanic, hairdresser.
Where and who: job, office, company, boss, colleague, uniform.
Getting and keeping it: interview, salary.
Answer these three out loud, each in a full sentence: What do you do? Where do you work? What did you want to be when you were a child?
Now practise with the questions below.
Check your understanding
Answer the questions below. You will see instantly if you are right.
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