Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.

My friend (female) works as a translator in an office.

Breakdown of Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.

• мой: my
• в: in
• подруга: the friend
• работать: to work
• офис: the office
• переводчица: the translator

Questions & Answers about Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.

Why is it моя подруга and not мой подруга?

In Russian, possessive adjectives agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe.

• Подруга (female friend) is feminine singular in the nominative case.
• The correct feminine form of “my” is моя.
• Мой is used with masculine nouns (e.g. мой друг – my (male) friend).

So:

• моя подруга – my (female) friend
• мой друг – my (male) friend / my friend (gender-neutral in English)

What is the difference between подруга and друг?

Both can be translated as “friend”, but:

• друг

  • Grammatically masculine.
  • Used for a male friend.
  • Also often used in a gender-neutral sense when you’re not focusing on gender (especially in mixed groups or formal contexts).

• подруга

  • Grammatically feminine.
  • Used for a female friend.
  • If a man says моя подруга about a woman, in many contexts it will be understood as “my (female) friend”, but sometimes it can be interpreted as “my girlfriend” depending on intonation and context.

So моя подруга clearly implies the friend is female.

Why is it работает переводчицей and not just переводчица?

Both are possible, but the structures are slightly different:

1. Моя подруга работает переводчицей.
   Literally: My friend works (as) a translator.

   • Focuses on her job activity, on the fact that she is working.

2. Моя подруга переводчица.
   Literally: My friend is a translator.

   • A more simple statement of profession, similar to “My friend is a translator.”

In everyday speech, both are natural and often interchangeable.
The version with работает makes you feel the “she works (in this capacity)” nuance a bit more strongly.

What case is переводчицей, and why is it used here?

Переводчицей is in the instrumental case, singular, feminine.

Russian often uses the instrumental case after verbs like:

• быть (to be)
• работать (to work)
• стать (to become)
• являться (to be, to constitute – formal)

when you talk about someone’s profession, role, or status.

Pattern:

• работать кем? – to work as what? / in what capacity?
  → работать переводчицей – to work as a translator (female)

So the verb работает requires the noun переводчица to be in the instrumental case → переводчицей.

How is the instrumental form переводчицей formed from переводчица?

The base noun is переводчица (female translator).

For many feminine nouns ending in -ца (especially -ица), the instrumental singular is formed as:

• -ица → -ицей

So:

• переводчица → переводчицей (instrumental, sg., fem.)

Other examples:

• учительница (female teacher) → учительницей
• актриса (actress) → актрисой (different pattern: -а → -ой)
• медсестра (nurse) → медсестрой

The exact ending depends on the noun type, but -ица → -ицей is a common pattern.

Could we say Моя подруга переводчица в офисе instead? What’s the difference?

You can say:

• Моя подруга переводчица в офисе.

It will be understood as “My friend is a translator in an office.”

Nuance:

• Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.
  Emphasizes the work activity a bit more.

• Моя подруга переводчица в офисе.
  More like a bare statement of fact: she is (by profession) a translator, and she is associated with an office.

Both are grammatically OK; the работает + instrumental construction is very standard when talking about where someone works and as what.

Why is it переводчицей and not переводчиком?

Both переводчица and переводчик mean “translator”, but:

• переводчица – specifically female translator, feminine form.
• переводчик – grammatically masculine, often used as a generic form for “translator” regardless of gender, especially in official or professional contexts.

In your sentence:

• Моя подруга работает переводчицей…
  explicitly uses the feminine job title and matches the word подруга (female friend).

It would also be grammatically correct to say:

• Моя подруга работает переводчиком в офисе.

This uses the generic (masculine) job title. Modern Russian often uses masculine job titles for both genders in official speech, but feminine forms like переводчица are also very common in everyday speech.

Why is it в офисе and not в офис?

The choice depends on movement vs. location:

• в офисе – prepositional case → “in the office”, “at the office”
  Used when something/someone is located there.

• в офис – accusative case of direction → “into the office”, “to the office”
  Used with verbs of motion to show movement towards the office.

In your sentence, we’re talking about where she works (a static location), so we use в офисе:

• Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.
  – My friend works as a translator in an office / at an office.

If you said:

• Она идёт в офис. – She is going to the office.

What case is офисе, and how is it formed?

Офисе is in the prepositional case, singular, masculine.

For most masculine inanimate nouns ending in a consonant, the prepositional singular is formed by adding -е:

• офис → в офисе (in/at the office)
• дом → в доме (in the house)
• город → в городе (in the city)

We use the prepositional case after certain prepositions like в and на when we talk about location (where something is).

Why are there no words for “a” or “the” in the Russian sentence?

Russian does not have articles like English “a/an” and “the”.

• The sentence Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.
  can be translated as:
  • My friend works as a translator in an office.
  • My friend works as a translator in the office.

Whether you interpret it as “a(n)” or “the” comes from context, not from a separate word in Russian.

So learners must get used to the idea that Russian leaves this distinction implicit.

Could we use своей подругой instead of моей подругой here?

No, not in this sentence.

• Моя подруга – “my friend” (I am the owner, and I am not the grammatical subject of the verb).

The reflexive possessive свой is used when the subject of the clause is the owner of something:

• Она любит свою работу. – She loves her (own) job.
  (Subject она, owner is also она → use свою.)

In your sentence:

• Subject: подруга (friend)
• Implied owner: я (I)
  → Owner and subject are not the same, so you cannot use свой.

Therefore моя подруга is correct, not своя подруга.

What aspect and tense is работает, and why is it used here?

Работает is:

• Imperfective aspect
• Present tense
• 3rd person singular of работать (to work)

In Russian, the imperfective present is used for:

• general facts
• regular/repeated actions
• ongoing states

A person’s job is a general, ongoing fact, so the imperfective present is exactly what we need:

• Она работает переводчицей. – She works as a translator. / She is working as a translator (in general, as her job).

Can the word order be changed, for example to В офисе моя подруга работает переводчицей?

Yes, Russian word order is relatively flexible, and this is a natural sentence:

• В офисе моя подруга работает переводчицей.

All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Моя подруга работает переводчицей в офисе.
2. Моя подруга в офисе работает переводчицей.
3. В офисе моя подруга работает переводчицей.

The basic meaning stays the same. Changing the order slightly changes what is emphasized:

• Starting with В офисе… puts more emphasis on the location (“In the office, my friend works as a translator”).

How do you pronounce the words in this sentence, especially the stress?

Approximate stresses (the stressed syllable is in CAPS):

• Моя́ – ma-YA (second syllable stressed)
• подру́га – pa-DRU-ga
• рабо́тает – ra-BO-ta-yet
• переводчи́цей – pe-re-vod-CHI-tsey
• в о́фисе – v O-fi-se

So, spoken smoothly:

Ма-я́ па-дру́-га ра-бо́-та-ет пе-ре-вод-чи́-цей в О́-фи-се.