Describing jobs and work routines in French

• There are different ways of forming the feminine version of job nouns.

• With some jobs, the noun stays the same and the article changes.

• Some nouns have spelling changes in the feminine form.

• This guide contains two listening activities.

Useful vocabulary for talking about different jobs and possible future careers includes:

Remember

An article isn’t needed when talking about jobs in French. For example:

Ma mère est prof de physique. - My mum is a physics teacher.

Je voudrais être médecin. - I would like to be a doctor.

You can also talk about people who are not currently working or in paid work.

For example:

Mon frère est au chômage. - My brother is unemployed.

Ma sœur est bénévole. - My sister is a volunteer.

Mon père est aidant. - My dad is a carer.

There are four different ways of forming the feminine version of regular job nouns in French:

1. Change the article (not the noun).

For example:

La journaliste écrit bien. - The (female) journalist writes well.

2. Add e to the end of the masculine noun.

For example:

Elle est écrivaine. - She’s a writer.

3. Change eur to euse or rice on the end of the noun.

For example:

Je suis chanteuse et actrice. - I am a (female) singer and actor.

Remember

Professeur (teacher) is an exception to this rule.

For example:

Le professeur - male teacher

La professeur - female teacher

However, it is more common to use le/la prof to mean ‘teacher’ in French.

4. Change en to enne on the end of the noun.

For example:

Ma tante est mécanicienne. - My aunt is a mechanic.

Remember

Some French job nouns are irregular in their feminine form, for example:

Some jobs use homme/femme in the role title.

For example:

L’homme politique - Male politician

La femme politique - Female politician

Listen to these people talking about their jobs on a French podcast.

For each person, write down the following information in English:

• their job title

• their opinion of their job

Areas and sectors people work in include:

For example:

Mes parents travaillent dans une usine. - My parents work in a factory.

Je voudrais un emploi dans la mode. - I would like a job in fashion.

Different tasks people might do at work include:

For example:

Le matin, j’énvoie des emails et je parle aux clients. - In the morning, I send emails and talk to customers.

Dan ma carrière, je veux aider les autres. - In my career, I want to help other people.

All Foundation Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Did you know?

There are several different words for ‘job’ in French. You might see the terms un travail, un emploi, un métier or the more informal word, un boulot. To talk about a ‘career’, use une carrière.

Listen to three people talking about their work in a radio interview. For each person, choose the correct job from the options given.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful Foundation Tier vocabulary to use when talking about jobs and work routines.

Job roles

Work types

All Higher Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful Higher Tier vocabulary to use when talking about jobs and work routines.

Now you have learned about describing jobs and work routine why not look at the Talking about eating out guide.