Professions in Russian

The topic of this lesson for beginners is professions (occupation). Today we will learn professions in Russian and common phrases to talk about someone’s occupation.

Vocabulary

And we will start with the basic vocabulary. Pay attention: for some professions there are both male and female versions.

врач, до́ктор
doctor

учи́тель / учи́тельница
teacher (m./f.)

профе́ссор
professor

инжене́р
engineer

юри́ст
lawyer, jurist

перево́дчик / перево́дчица
translator (m./f.)

секрета́рь
secretary

убо́рщик / убо́рщица
cleaner (m./f.)

води́тель, шофёр
driver

продаве́ц / продавщи́ца
seller, shop assistant (m./f.)

бухга́лтер
bookkeeper, accountant

гру́зчик
loader, stower

водопрово́дчик
plumber

пило́т
pilot

худо́жник / худо́жница
painter (m./f.)

арти́ст / арти́стка
artist (m./f.)

певе́ц / певи́ца
singer (m./f.)

музыка́нт
musician

Asking about occupation

To ask about somebody’s profession or occupation, you can use one of the following questions:

Кем вы рабо́таете? Чем вы занима́етесь по жи́зни?
What is your work? What do you do for living? (formal)

Кем ты рабо́таешь? Чем ты занима́ешься по жи́зни?
What is your work? What do you do for living? (informal)

If you are filling up a questionnaire, you might encounter a following question:

Укажи́те род заня́тий: …
Your occupation: …

If you are not sure if the person is already working or still studying, you can ask:

Ты рабо́таешь и́ли у́чишься?
Do you work or study? (informal)

Вы рабо́таете и́ли у́читесь?
Do you work or study? (plural or formal)

Possible answers

There are multiple ways to answer a question about the occupation of yourself or someone else.

First of all, you can use a very simple formula:

Я – бухга́лтер.
I am a bookkeeper.

Он – юри́ст.
He is a lawyer.

You can also use the word рабо́тать (to work). Pay attention that after рабо́тать the profession goes in the Instrumental case.

Я рабо́таю секретарём.
I am a secretary.

Она́ рабо́тает учи́телем в шко́ле.
She is a school teacher.

To diversify your answer, you can use some of the patterns below:

Я – бизнесме́н. Я занима́юсь би́знесом. У меня́ свой би́знес.
I am a businessman. I have my own business.

Она́ занима́ется би́знесом. У нее свой бизне́с.
She is a businesswoman. She has her own business.

Я препода́ю в университе́те.
I teach at the university.

When you want to become somebody, you say стать + noun in the Instrumental case:

Он хо́чет стать актёром.
He wants to become an actor.

When you study to be somebody, you say учиться на + noun in the Genitive case:

Она́ у́чится на врача́.
She is studying to be a doctor.

If you work, you can simply name your profession:

Моя́ профе́ссия – инжене́р.
My profession is engineer.

Or to use the verb заниматься + noun in the Instrumental case:

Я занима́юсь диза́йном интерье́ров.
I design interiors.

You can also just say where you work:

Он рабо́тает в компа́нии по разрабо́тке програ́ммного обеспече́ния.
He works at a software engineering company.

Practice the vocabulary and examples with the audio file.

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