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Mio cugino fa il pompiere.

Mio cugino fa il pompiere.
My cousin is a firefighter.
From Lesson 176:Roles and life stages (da)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Mio cugino fa il pompiere.

Why does this sentence use fa il instead of the preposition da if this lesson is about roles and professions?
While da can be used with verbs like lavorare to express a role (lavora da pompiere means he works as a firefighter), the most common way to state a profession is using the verb fare followed by the definite article, as seen here with fa il pompiere.
Could I just say Mio cugino è un pompiere instead?
You can use the verb essere for professions, but in Italian you usually drop the article, making it Mio cugino è pompiere. However, using fare plus the definite article is the most natural and common way Italians express this in daily conversation.
I remember we usually need an article before possessives like il mio. Why is it missing here?
This is a classic exception. You drop the definite article when talking about singular, unmodified family members. Because cugino is a singular close relative, it is just Mio cugino. If it were plural, you would need the article: I miei cugini.
If my cousin were female, how would this sentence change?
You would change the possessive, the family member, the article, and the job title to feminine: Mia cugina fa la pompiera. Note that another very common, official term for a firefighter in Italy is vigile del fuoco.

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