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Video 3 Talk about your work

Hey French Speak-ers,

Here is a short interactive video filled with practical sentences to help with talking about ‘le travail’ (work), you learn how to:

–          Tell people what you do and since when

–          Talk about your working hours using the 24 hour clock

–          Explain whether you like it or not

–          Learn about a French ski resort in Haute savoie

Check out this short video:

Read more:

Your work

To say what you do, use je suis followed by the name of your job. There’s no need for le or la:

Je suis secrétaire

I’m a secretary

Je suis mécanicien

I’m a mechanic

To say more about what you do, use je with an appropriate verb:

Je travaille

I work

Je travaille à la poste.

Je fais

I do

Je commence

I begin

Je commence ma journée à 08h30.

I begin my day at 8.30.

Je m’occupe de

I’m in charge of…

Je m’occupe d’un restaurant.

You could say:

Je suis docteur. Je travaille à la poste. Je m’occupe d’un restaurant.

Here are a few common questions when people talk about their jobs:

Vous faites quoi comme travail ?

What’s your job?

Vous faites ce travail depuis quand?

Since when have you been doing this job?

Votre travail, il est comment ?

What’s your work like?

Mon travail est varié / passionnant / fantastique / ennuyeux / prenant

My job is varied / exciting / great / boring / demanding

J’aime beaucoup ce que je fais et c’est un travail très prenant.

I really like what I do and it’s a very demanding job.

When we meet new people, we are often asked what we do for a living. Qu’est-ce que vous faites comme travail ? Few of us work on the ski slopes, so it’s worth spending a little time planning a few phrases to answer that question. Je suis technicien et je travaille dans un laboratoire. Use a dictionary to look up an expression to explain what you do, then you can pick out other phrases from above to give a fuller description and explain your hours.

Don’t forget to say what you think about your work. C’est passionnant ? Is it exciting?

Merci,

Devy.