Welcome to EnglishClass101.com’s “English in Three Minutes”. The fastest, easiest,
and most fun way to learn English.
In this series, we’re going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions
in English. It’s really useful, and it only takes three minutes!
In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to ask what someone’s job is in natural English.
Of course, you *can* just say, “What is your job?” This is correct English, but
it sounds too direct and awkward. Native English speakers almost never say this in a social situation.
Instead, they use a different question.
But before we master that, we need to compare it to a very similar question.
“I’m presenting a video about English!”
These two questions - “What are you doing?” and “What do you do?” sound similar, but
The first one is asking what you are doing right now, this minute. You answer it using an -ing verb.
“I’m reading!”
… While the second is actually a shortened version of “What do you do for a living?”.
This is how we ask “What is your job?” in natural English.
When native speakers of English ask this question, it can come out very fast, and sound more
In order to tell it apart from “what are you doing?”, just listen for the “ing”
sound on the end of the question - if it’s not there, then you’re being asked what
So how would you answer this question?
Just think of it as if the other person is asking you “What is your job?”
You could answer with “I am”, plus your job.
“I’m a teacher.” I’m a teacher or,
If you want to learn more job names, go to EnglishClass101.com and check out the Core
Word Lists. These cover job vocabulary and more, and include a picture and audio to help
you perfect your pronunciation.
You can also mention the place that you work at, starting with “I work at”.
If you work for a big company that is well-known, you can say “I work for”, and then the name:
I work for The New York Times.
I work for The New York Times.
Now it’s time for Alisha’s Advice!
When you ask the question “What do you do?” and the other person tells you their job,
it’s polite to make some kind of positive comment about his or her job - for example,
“How interesting!” or “That must be exciting” or even “Oh, really!”. Remember
Do you know how native English speakers ask each other what their hobbies are? Hint: we
don’t use the word “hobbies”! Find out next time in the third English in