How to Talk About Your Occupation - Lesson Focus

Learn the key pattern to talk about your occupation

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.

Do you remember how Mark asks,

"Are you a student?"

Você é estudante?

Let's start will the word estudante, "student." Estudante . Estudante.

In Portuguese, nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. However, the noun estudante, "student," is a special case, as it has just one form for both masculine and feminine genders.

In this case, estudante is masculine singular, as Mark is addressing Alex.

Next is with você é, "you are." Você é.

First is você, meaning "you" (informal). Você . Você.

Note: in Brazilian Portuguese você is used when addressing someone in a casual conversation.

After this is é, literally "is," but translates as "are," in this context. É . É.

É is from the verb ser, meaning "to be." Ser . Ser.

Together você é literally means "you is," but translates as "you are." Você é.

Note: você, "you," is always followed by a verb in the third person singular, as in Você é, literally, "You is," but translates as "You are."

All together, Você é estudante? literally "is you student," but translates as "Are you a student?" Você é estudante?

Let's take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Alex says,

"No, I'm not a student. I'm an investor."

Não, eu não sou estudante. Eu sou investidor.

First is não, meaning, "no." Não . Não.

It answers Mark's yes-or-no question, "Are you a student?" Você é estudante?

After this, Alex Andrade specifies that "He's not a student." Eu não sou estudante. "I'm not a student." Eu não sou estudante.

First is eu, "I." Eu.

After this is, não, meaning "not." Não . Não.

Next is sou, "am." Sou.

Sou is from the verb ser, meaning "to be." Ser.

Together, it's eu não sou, literally, "I not am," but translates as, "I am not." Eu não sou.

After this is Estudante, "student." Estudante.

Again, masculine, singular, in this case, as Alex is responding.

All together, Eu não sou estudante, literally, "I not am student," but translates as "I'm not a student." Eu não sou estudante.

Alex then tells Mark his actual occupation. Eu sou investidor. "I'm an investor." Eu sou investidor.

First is, eu, "I." Eu.

Next is sou, "am." Sou.

Next is investidor, "investor." Investidor . Investidor

Investidor is a masculine singular noun.

Together, Eu sou investidor, "I'm an investor." Eu sou investidor.

All together, Não, eu não sou estudante. Eu sou investidor.

"No, I'm not a student. I'm an investor."

Não, eu não sou estudante. Eu sou investidor.

The pattern is

Não, eu não sou OCCUPATION. Eu sou ACTUAL OCCUPATION.

"No, I'm not OCCUPATION. I'm ACTUAL OCCUPATION."

To use this pattern, simply replace the OCCUPATION and ACTUAL OCCUPATION placeholders with the occupations that are appropriate to the conversation.

Note: This pattern requires nouns. Their gender will depend on the gender of the speaker.

Imagine you're Emma Espinosa, a student. Recall, the word for a female student is also estudante. Estudante.

Alex Andrade asks you if you're a teacher, professora. "A female teacher." Professora . Professora.

Say,

"No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a student."

Ready?

Não, eu não sou professora. Eu sou estudante.

"No, I'm not a teacher. I'm a student."

Não, eu não sou professora. Eu sou estudante.

In Portuguese, many of the occupation nouns differ depending on gender.

For example,

"architect"

arquiteto

arquiteta

In Portuguese, there are some rules of thumb for gender of nouns.

Nouns that end in "-o" tend to be masculine,

For example:

arquiteto

"architect," mascuine singular form

médico

"doctor," masculine singular form

While nouns that end in -a tend to be feminine. For example:

arquiteta

"architect," feminine singular form

médica

"doctor," feminine singular form

In Portuguese, some occupations share the same word for both genders, such as

estudante

"student"

estudante

dentista

"dentist"

dentista

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