Spanish work vocabulary: jobs, the office and your working day
Short answer: say what you do with ser and no “a”: soy enfermera, “I’m a nurse”. Job titles change with the person: el médico, la médica. People ask ¿A qué te dedicas?, “what do you do?”. Formal emails open with Estimado / Estimada and close with Un saludo.
Tu tarjeta de visita · your business card
Lucía Romero GilMédicaHospital La Paz · Calle Mayor 12, Madrid
SoyI-ammédica.doctor
soy MEH-dee-kah · “I’m a doctor.”Why:Pattern -o → -a: el médico, la médica. With ser, no una before the job. Two surnames on the card: father’s, then mother’s.
Jobs
Four patterns for job titles
Spanish nouns have a gender: masculine (with el) or feminine (with la). For people, the job title follows the person. There are four patterns; learn which one a job uses and you can make both forms. Tap a row to hear both. When you write at work in English too, see our guides to business emails and cover letters.
-o → -aswap the ending
consonant + -aadd -a
-ista: no changeonly el / la
-e / -nte: mostly sameonly el / la
Talking about your job
¿A qué te dedicas?
A small-talk exchange about work, question and answer. With ser + a bare job, Spanish drops un / una; add it back when you describe the job: es una médica excelente.
They ask
¿A quéto whatte dedicas?you-devote-yourself
ah KEH teh deh-DEE-kahs · “What do you do?”
You answer
SoyI-amenfermera.nurse
soy en-fehr-MEH-rah · “I’m a nurse.”No una before the job.
They ask
¿Dóndewheretrabajas?you-work
DON-deh trah-BAH-hahs · “Where do you work?”
You answer
TrabajoI-workeninunahospital.hospital
trah-BAH-hoh en oon os-pee-TAL · “I work in a hospital.”Spanish says “in” a company, never “for”: trabajo en Google.
They ask
¿Teto-yougustapleasestuyourtrabajo?job
teh GOOS-tah too trah-BAH-hoh · “Do you like your job?”
You answer
Sí,yesperobuthagoI-domuchasmanyhoras.hours
see, PEH-roh AH-goh MOO-chahs OH-rahs · “Yes, but I work long hours.”Hacer horas, literally “to do hours”.
They ask
¿Yandtú?you
ee TOO · “And you?”
You answer
AhoranowestoyI-ameninparo.unemployment
ah-OH-rah es-TOY en PAH-roh · “I’m unemployed at the moment.”Estar en paro in Spain; Latin America says estoy desempleado.
El horario
A Spanish working day
Many Spanish offices still split the day with a long lunch, la comida, at two or three. In summer many switch to la jornada intensiva: a straight day from eight to three. Both are drawn to scale against a 9-to-5.
Horario partido
9:00–14:00 trabajola comida16:00–19:00
Jornada intensiva
8:00–15:00 trabajo
UK 9-to-5
9:00–17:00
7:0011:0015:0019:0021:00
Entrar a trabajar (en-TRAR ah trah-bah-HAR) is “to start work”; salir del trabajo (sah-LEER del trah-BAH-hoh) is “to finish”. La comida means both “lunch” and “food”.
El correo
Anatomy of a work email
Work email uses usted, the polite “you”, until the other person switches to tú. Each labelled part below is the standard phrase for that slot. Tap a part to hear it.
2El saludo · greetingDear Ms López, (with a colon, not a comma)
3El motivo · reasonI’m writing to confirm Thursday’s meeting at ten. Le = usted.
4El adjunto · attachmentI’m attaching the agenda.
5La petición · requestI look forward to your reply.
6La despedida · sign-offBest wishes, (Atentamente is more formal)
7La firma · signatureName, title, company.
La nómina
Contracts, pay and the fourteen payments
Many Spanish salaries are paid in fourteen instalments: twelve monthly payments plus two pagas extra, in July and December. Your yearly salary (el sueldo bruto anual) is the same; it is just split differently.
enefebmarabrmayjunjulextraagosepoctnovdicextra
The two red bars are las pagas extra (lahs PAH-gahs EKS-trah), in summer and at Christmas.