Learn Spanish (Spain): Mi madre es secretaria.

Mi madre es secretaria.

My mother is a secretary.

Breakdown of Mi madre es secretaria.

Questions & Answers about Mi madre es secretaria.

Why is there no word for "a" before secretaria?

In Spanish, you do not use the words for "a" or "an" (un or una) when simply stating someone's profession after the verb ser (to be). You just say es secretaria. However, if you add a descriptive word, you do use the article, such as in es una buena secretaria (she is a good secretary).

Would it be secretario if my father was a secretary?

Yes. Job titles in Spanish change to match the gender of the person holding them. Since a mother is female, we use the feminine form secretaria. For a male, you would use the masculine form secretario.

Why does the sentence use es instead of está? Isn't a job a temporary thing?

Even though someone might change their career, Spanish treats a profession as a core part of a person's identity. Because of this, you always use the verb ser (which becomes es here) rather than estar to talk about what someone does for a living.