Question 1

I thought "come" meant "as". Why are we using da here?

Accepted Answer

While come often translates to "as" or "like", Italian uses the preposition da to indicate a role, profession, or stage of life you are currently occupying. When you say lavorare da ingegnere, it specifically means "to work in the capacity of an engineer."

Question 2

Why isn't there an article before ingegnere? Shouldn't it be "da un ingegnere"?

Accepted Answer

When using da to express a profession or role, Italian drops the indefinite article (a/an). You just put da directly before the noun, creating phrases like da ingegnere (as an engineer) or da bambino (as a child).

Question 3

Why does ancora go right after the verb instead of at the end of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, the structure for "not yet" is non ... ancora. The non goes before the verb, and ancora naturally sits immediately after the conjugated verb (lavoro). It doesn't get pushed to the end of the sentence like "yet" does in English.

Question 4

Could I say "Non faccio ancora l'ingegnere" instead?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Using the verb fare is another extremely common way to talk about your job in Italian. Both Non lavoro da ingegnere and Non faccio l'ingegnere mean essentially the same thing, but notice that when you use fare, you must use the definite article (l') instead of da.

Non lavoro ancora da ingegnere.

Breakdown of Non lavoro ancora da ingegnere.

Questions & Answers about Non lavoro ancora da ingegnere.

Learn Non lavoro ancora da ingegnere and more in Italian