Italian · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 36
Che lavoro fai?What do you do for work?
«Che cosa fai: studi o lavori?» — one of the seven CILS oral questions, word for word. This chapter prepares it: work as a noun (il lavoro, l'ufficio), the professions (insegnante, cameriere, cuoco), and the two machines for stating them — essere + bare profession (sono studente, from chapter 3) and fare + THE profession (faccio l'insegnante), where the do-everything fare takes its umpteenth job… talking about jobs. The job ad also appears — an attested micro-text of the CILS reading.
Dialogue
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Studi o lavori?— Do you study or work?
- SofiaMike, domanda d'esame numero quattro: che cosa fai — studi o lavori?Mike, exam question number four: what do you do — study or work?
- MikeStudio l'italiano — e adesso lavoro anche! Faccio il cameriere al bar di Marco.I study Italian — and now I work too! I'm a waiter at Marco's bar.
- SofiaBene! E Marco?Good! And Marco?
- MikeMarco fa il barista. E Lei, professoressa, fa l'insegnante!Marco's a barista. And you, professoressa, are a teacher!
Dialogue
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L'annuncio di lavoro— The job ad
- MarcoGiulia, ascolta questo annuncio: «Ristorante in centro cerca cameriere. Orario: 18-23. Può lavorare anche sabato e domenica?»Giulia, listen to this ad: «Restaurant in the centro seeks waiter. Hours: 6-11 pm. Can you work Saturdays and Sundays too?»
- GiuliaPer Mike? Ma lui la sera studia — e il sabato lavora già al tuo bar!For Mike? But he studies in the evenings — and on Saturdays he already works at your bar!
- MarcoVero. E io amo il mio lavoro: faccio il barista da dieci anni. Il bar non è un ufficio — è una piazza con il caffè!True. And I love my job: I've been a barista for ten years. A bar is not an office — it's a piazza with coffee!
- GiuliaE io voglio fare l'insegnante, come la professoressa Sofia. Studio per questo — il lavoro dei sogni!And I want to be a teacher, like professoressa Sofia. That's what I study for — the dream job!
Vocabulary
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- il lavoro
n.m.the work, the job (lavorare's noun — che lavoro fai?; il lavoro dei sogni = the dream job)
- l'ufficio
n.m.the office (in ufficio — another article-less frozen pair, like a casa; lavoro in ufficio)
- l'insegnante
n.m/f.the teacher (-e class, same shape for her and him: l'insegnante, gli/le insegnanti; fare l'insegnante)
- il cameriere
n.m.the waiter (la cameriera for her; the job-ad regular — cercasi cameriere)
- il cuoco
n.m.the cook (la cuoca; the ch23 h-shield in the plural: i cuochi)
- il barista
n.m.the barista (an -ista job: same -a for both, il/la barista — like il turista)
- la scuola
n.f.the school (a scuola — bare, the home-idiom family keeps growing; andare a scuola)
- cercare
verbto look for, to seek (cerco lavoro — no preposition, like aspettare; the job ad's cerca)
- guadagnare
verbto earn (guadagno bene — with P3's gn inside; the polite way to talk pay)
- il numero
n.m.the number (il numero di telefono; che numero hai? — chapter 12's digits find their phone)
- adesso
adverbnow
- l'annuncio
n.m.the ad, the announcement
Grammar
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Sono studente, faccio l'insegnante — two machines for jobs
Explanation
To state your job Italian offers two machines, and the difference lives entirely in the article. MACHINE ONE: essere + BARE profession — sono studente, è cameriere, siamo insegnanti. The profession works here like an identity adjective: no article (the same rule as «sono italiano», chapter 5). MACHINE TWO: fare + profession WITH the article — faccio il cameriere, fa la barista, vuole fare l'insegnante. With fare the profession becomes a full noun again and wants its article back. If your language says «I work as X» or «I am an X», the two wrong reflexes are «faccio cameriere» (article lost) and — rarer — «sono il cameriere» (one article too many: that means «I am THE waiter we were talking about»). The exam's key question is Che lavoro fai? or, verbatim CILS, «Che cosa fai: studi o lavori?» — and the model answers use both machines: studio all'università / faccio la commessa. A gender note: many professions change clothes (cuoco/cuoca, cameriere/cameriera, maestro/maestra); those in -e and -ista stay the same for everyone (l'insegnante, il/la barista).
Examples
- Che cosa fai: studi o lavori? Studio all'università e lavoro il sabato.What do you do: study or work? I study at university and work on Saturdays.
- Marco fa il barista; sua sorella è insegnante.Marco is a barista; his sister is a teacher.
- Da grande voglio fare la cuoca!When I grow up I want to be a cook!
- Ho lavorato in ufficio dieci anni; adesso faccio il cuoco.I worked in an office for ten years; now I'm a cook.
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