Jobs and workplaces (el mecánico, el despacho)

Jobs after ser: no article

As with every profession, ser + job takes no article in Spanish:

My brother is a mechanic.
Mi hermano es mecánico.
My father is a civil servant.
Mi padre es funcionario.

Add un / una only when an adjective describes the person:

She is a very famous artist.
Es una artista muy famosa.
He is a very good musician.
Es un músico muy bueno.

Masculine and feminine

Most jobs follow the -o / -a pattern. Words in -or add -a, and words in -ista do not change at all — only the article does.

manwoman
el mecánicola mecánica
el cocinerola cocinera
el secretariola secretaria
el maestrola maestra
el funcionariola funcionaria
el empresariola empresaria
el escritorla escritora
el artistala artista
el músicola música

Careful: la música is both music and a woman musician — the sentence makes it clear.

My mother is a secretary.
Mi madre es secretaria.
The writer writes novels.
La escritora escribe novelas.

Maestro or profesor?

A maestro / maestra teaches young children at primary school (el colegio). A profesor teaches at secondary school or university.

My cousin is a teacher at a primary school.
Mi prima es maestra en un colegio.

Despacho or oficina?

La oficina is the office as a workplace. El despacho is one room: your own office at work, or the study at home.

The boss is in his office.
El jefe está en su despacho.
I work at home, in my study.
Trabajo en casa, en mi despacho.

Looking for work

You send el currículum and then go to la entrevista.

I send my CV to the company.
Le envío mi currículum a la empresa.
Tomorrow I have a job interview.
Mañana tengo una entrevista de trabajo.

And when work is over for good, you are jubilado — with estar for the state, and also as a noun, los jubilados:

My grandfather is retired.
Mi abuelo está jubilado.
The park is full of pensioners.
El parque está lleno de jubilados.
Practice this lesson

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Erik