By Ling-Ling Lisa Shih
From Ling-LingChinese.com
How do you ask someone what they do for living in Chinese? Here are three ways to ask this question.
-
请问您做什么工作？
Qǐnqwèn nín zuò shénme gōngzuò？）
(Literally, “Please ask you do what work?” “Qǐnqwèn” means “May I ask”–It is just a polite way to ask someone this question: “What do you do (for a living)?”
2. 你是做什么工作的？
(Nǐ shì zuò shénme gōngzuò de?)
What do you do for a living?
3. 你的职业是什么？
(Nǐ de zhíyè shì shénme?)
(Literally, your profession is what?–> It can be translated as “What is your profession?” It is just a more formal way of asking the same question, “What do you do?” (你做什么工作？)
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If you are a student, someone may ask you, “What would you like to do?”
In Chinese we would say,
A: 你想做什么工作？
(Nǐ xiǎng zuò shénme gōngzuò?)
Literally translated, “You want to do what work?”
In English, you would translate as “What do you want to do?”
Here is how you would answer:
B : 我想做________________。
(Wǒ xiǎng zuò…) (I want to be….)
Or
我想当________________。
(Wo xiǎng dāng…) (I want to be…)
（老师 / 律师/ 中文老师/ 英文老师/ 医生/ 警察/ 工程师/ 工人/ 护士/ 建筑师/ 商人/ 电脑工程师/ 药剂师/ 会计/ 经理）
If you are retired, you simply say:
我退休了。Wǒ tuìxiū le.
L2D2 What do you do for a living （in PDF）
Vocabulary List for the above sentences or questions
| ID | Chinese | Trad. | Pinyin | English Definition | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Chinese | Trad. | Pinyin | English Definition | ||
| 1 | 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您 ) | |||
| 2 | 做 | zuò | to do; to make; to act as; to engage in; to be; to become; to function (in some capacity); to serve as | |||
| 3 | 什么 | 什麼 | shén me | what | ||
| 4 | 工作 | gōngzuò | to work; (of a machine) to operate; job; work; task; Classifiers: 个 | |||
| 5 | 职业 | 職業 | zhí yè | occupation; profession; vocation; professional | ||
| 6 | 是 | shì | is; are; am; yes; to be | |||
| 7 | 的 | de | of; ~’s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute); (used to form a nominal expression); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis) | |||
| 8 | 想 | xiǎng | to think; to believe; to suppose; to wish; to want | |||
| 9 | 当 | 噹, 當 | dāng | to be; to act as |
L2D2 Chinese Vocabulary Worksheet for What do you do and What would you like to do
Vocabulary for Common Professions
| ID | Chinese | Trad. | Pinyin | English Definition | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Chinese | Trad. | Pinyin | English Definition | ||
| 1 | 老师 | 老師 | lǎo shī | teacher; Classifiers: 个 | ||
| 2 | 律师 | 律師 | lǜ shī | lawyer | ||
| 3 | 中文 | zhōng wén | Chinese language | |||
| 4 | 英文 | yīng wén | English (language) | |||
| 5 | 医生 | 醫生 | yī shēng | doctor; Classifiers: 个 | ||
| 6 | 警察 | jǐng chá | police; police officer; Classifiers: 个 | |||
| 7 | 工程师 | 工程師 | gōng chéngshī | engineer; Classifiers: 个 | ||
| 8 | 工人 | gōng rén | worker; Classifiers: 个 | |||
| 9 | 护士 | 護士 | hù shi | nurse; Classifiers: 个 | ||
| 10 | 建筑师 | 建築師 | jiàn zhù shī | architect | ||
| 11 | 商人 | shāng rén | merchant; businessman | |||
| 12 | 电脑 | 電腦 | diàn nǎo | computer; Classifiers: 台 | ||
| 13 | 药剂师 | 藥劑師 | yào jì shī | pharmacist | ||
| 14 | 会计 | 會計 | kuài jì | accountant; accountancy; accounting | ||
| 15 | 经理 | 經理 | jīng lǐ | manager; director; Classifiers: 个 | ||
| 16 | 退休 | tuì xiū | to retire; retirement (from work) | |||
| 17 | 了 | le | (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (completed action marker) |
Downloadable Worksheets:
- L2D2 Vocabulary List for common professions
- L2D2 Chinese Vocabulary Worksheet for Common Professions in Chinese
- L2D2 What do you do for a living_Sentence worksheet
For more videos and more vocabulary on professions/jobs, please go to:
Ling-Ling Chinese 