Talking about your job or studies

The idea

A job is a noun with a person ending, usually without a word for "a" (bir): öğretmenim (I am a teacher), doktorum, öğrenciyim. Ask with Ne iş yapıyorsun? and put the place in the locative: hastanede çalışıyorum, üniversitede okuyorum. For a student the verb is okumak.

Examples

• Ben hastanede çalışıyorum.I work at a hospital.
• Ablam bankada çalışıyor.My older sister works at a bank.
• Ben üniversitede okuyorum.I study at university.The verb okumak means both to read and to study. With a school or university it says that you are a student there. The pronoun ben may be dropped: Üniversitede okuyorum.
• Ne iş yapıyorsun?What do you do for a living?
• Sen öğrenci misin?Are you a student?
• öğretmenimI am a teacheröğretmen·im-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
• öğrenciyimI am a studentöğrenci·yim-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
• doktorumI am a doctordoktor·um-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
• Babam şoför, annem öğretmen.My father is a driver and my mother is a teacher.In the third person the noun usually stands alone: şoför, öğretmen, not şoförüm. Person endings are for ben, sen, biz and siz.

Watch out

Do not answer with yapmak: Doktor yapıyorum does not mean "I am a doctor". Say Doktorum. For the workplace use the locative, not -e/-a: Bankada çalışıyorum, not Bankaya çalışıyorum.

Try it yourself

1. Say "I am a doctor": add the person ending to doktor.

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   doktorum

   doktorum: the last vowel of doktor is o, so the ending is -um; the word ends in a consonant, so no y is needed.

2. Say "I am a student": add the person ending to öğrenci.

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   öğrenciyim

   öğrenciyim: öğrenci ends in a vowel, so y joins it to the ending, and the vowel i gives -im.

3. Add the suffix: I work at the hospital.

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   hastanede

   hastanede: you work in the place, not towards it, so the locative is used; the last vowel e is front, hence -de.

4. Fill in the question word: What do you do for a living?

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   Ne

   Ne: ne iş means "what job" and yapıyorsun is "you do", so the question word is ne, not nerede.

Use it today

Write four sentences about yourself and your family: what you do, where you work or study, and what two relatives do.