To Be + Profession
To say your profession or occupation in English you use TO BE.
It is important to put the article A or AN before the profession when we are talking about one person.
To be + a/an + profession
- I am a teacher.
- You are a student.
- He is a pilot.
- She is an actress.
- John is an engineer.
- Susan is a dentist.
If there is more than one person, we do not use A or An.
- We are teachers.
- They are students
- Jack and Jill are engineers.
Compare the following:
- You are a student.
- You are students.
The first sentence refers to ONE student… YOU! So we need the article A before the profession/occupation.
The second sentence refers to YOU plural = you + you + you.
Since there is more than one YOU, we don’t use A or AN and the occupation (student) is in plural too.
The Question
To ask about the profession or occupation of someone you ask…
- What do you do?
(This is the most common way)
Or if it is another person…
What does + person + do?
- What does John do?
- What does Susan do?
More examples
- What do you do? – I am a scientist.
- What does Mike do? – He is a police officer.
- What does Angelica do? – She is an engineer.
- What does your father do? – He is a mechanic.
To Be + Profession Summary Chart
What do you do?