Talking About Your Job

Being able to talk about your occupation (your job) is important. Many times I've passed through immigration at airports and they've asked me to share my occupation with them. So it's important to know how the question is asked and also how to respond.

There are several ways to ask what a person does. Here are the three most common ways:

Some people may also say, "What's your job?" but this can sometimes seem too blunt and I've heard it used a lot less than the three above.

Let's look at the most common one: What do you do?
The first "do" makes the sentence into a question and the second "do" is the verb of the action (what do you do/ what do you see/ what do you hear)

Now you must practice how to answer these types of questions. Take a look at this picture.

Usually we'll say, "I'm a/an _________." This is pretty easy.

You can also include more information by adding where you work.

Imagine you're at a party talking to a person you've just met. You want to ask about her job.

But what if you want to ask what her boyfriend's job is? Instead of saying, "What do you do?" which one would you choose below: 1, 2, or 3?

If the subject (in the present tense sentence) is "he," "she" or the person's name, we always use the auxiliary verb , "does" and not "do."

So, the answer is (2).

We change the first "do" into "does" and leave the second "do" the same because it is the verb of the action, remember?

What does he do / What does she do? / What does Mark do? / What does your mother do?

"What do you do?" - I'm an English teacher.
"What does your husband do?" - My husband is an accountant.

What do YOU do? Share with us!