Jobs in Spanish: vocabulary list, feminine forms and a classroom routine

Jobs in Spanish with their feminine form

In the pronunciation column, capitals mark the stressed syllable. “h” stands for the jota, a throaty sound like the ch in Scottish “loch”. “th” is the Spain pronunciation of z, and of c before e or i; in Latin America it is “s”. The Spanish h is silent.

Jobs that change -o to -a

Jobs in -or that add -a

Jobs with one form and two articles

How the feminine works

1. -o becomes -a. el abogado, la abogada. This is the largest group, and current usage applies it to jobs that were long masculine only: la médica, la ingeniera, la bombera are all accepted by the Real Academia Española.
2. A final consonant usually adds -a. el profesor, la profesora; el jefe (boss), la jefa. The accent of el diseñador stays on the same syllable in la diseñadora.
3. -ista, -ante and -ente do not change. Only the article shows the sex: el periodista, la periodista; el cantante, la cantante. A few have a common feminine in -a as well: la dependienta (shop assistant), la presidenta.
4. Some words have two accepted feminines. la juez and la jueza (judge) are both correct; la médico is still heard beside la médica.
5. A few are irregular. el actor, la actriz. And el policía is a police officer, while la policía also means the police force.
6. The masculine plural covers mixed groups. los profesores can be men and women. In formal speeches you will also hear both forms: profesores y profesoras.

Talking about jobs

The key rule for English speakers: after ser, a job takes no article. “She is a nurse” is Es enfermera. Add un or una only when an adjective follows: Es una enfermera muy buena.

¿En qué trabajas? / ¿A qué te dedicas?What do you do?

Soy profesora de inglés.I’m an English teacher.

Mi padre es cocinero y trabaja en un restaurante.My dad is a chef and works in a restaurant.

Mi madre trabaja como enfermera en un hospital.My mum works as a nurse in a hospital.

¿Qué quieres ser de mayor?What do you want to be when you grow up? (Spain)

Quiero ser veterinaria porque me encantan los animales.I want to be a vet because I love animals.

Me gustaría trabajar al aire libre.I’d like to work outdoors.

Places of work come with en: en una oficina, en una tienda, en un colegio, en una fábrica, desde casa (from home).

Spain and Latin America

Most job titles are shared, but a few everyday words change.

Idioms and sayings

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• “Soy un profesor”: no article after ser: Soy profesor.
• Masculine jobs for women: Mi madre es médico is heard, but pupils should learn médica; Mi tía es un abogado is simply wrong: Mi tía es abogada.
• Changing -ista words: there is no “periodisto” or “dentisto”. Only the article changes.
• Conductor for an orchestra: el conductor drives a bus. An orchestra conductor is el director de orquesta.
• Forgetting the accent: médico, mecánico and policía are stressed where the accent sits.

In class: jobs as a word of the day

Jobs are easy to picture and lead straight to personal sentences about family, ambitions and school.

1. Show the picture (a firefighter) and the English word: “firefighter”.
2. Ask ¿Cómo se dice en español? Pupils write a guess on mini whiteboards; accept either form.
3. Reveal el bombero / la bombera with its pronunciation. The class repeats both forms, then two pupils alone.
4. Show the example sentence: Mi tía es bombera y trabaja en Madrid.
5. Give the reuse task: each pupil says what someone they know does, or wants to do: Mi hermano quiere ser policía.
6. Recall yesterday’s job: ¿Cómo se dice “nurse”? Ask for both forms.

That is exactly what a daily routine does: one job at a time, in both forms, used in a real sentence straight away.

Guessing games

¿Quién soy? riddles work well from A1: Trabajo en un hospital y ayudo a los médicos. ¿Quién soy? (el enfermero / la enfermera). Mimes are a quick alternative: a pupil mimes a job and the class answers with Eres…, checking the article is left out.

• A1The job with both articles: el cartero, la cartera
• A2Family and places of work: Mi madre es enfermera y trabaja en un hospital.
• B1Future plans and reasons: Me gustaría ser ingeniera porque se me dan bien las matemáticas.
• B2Opinions on work: Es importante que el trabajo sea interesante, aunque se gane menos.

At KS2, a picture and both articles are enough. At KS3, insist on the missing article after ser and on feminine forms. At GCSE, jobs return with future plans and work experience: move to the conditional and reasons.

For extra vocabulary between lessons, the free site unapalabrapordia.es, created by the maker of VocaDial, publishes an illustrated Spanish word every day, translated into French, English and German, with its pronunciation and an example sentence recorded in all four languages.

Frequently asked questions