Virtuous English AcademyJobs — A1 English Vocabulary
This A1 vocabulary list gathers 20 beginner English words about jobs — common jobs and the people who do them. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using jobs words in English
Jobs come up in the first two minutes of any conversation with someone new, which is why this list is worth knowing cold. It also carries a grammar point that trips up speakers of a great many languages: English requires an article before a job. I am a doctor is correct and I am doctor is not — and the missing a is one of the most recognisable beginner errors there is.
What to watch out for
Jobs always take a or an
She is a nurse. He is an engineer. The article is compulsory in the singular, even though many languages drop it. In the plural it disappears again — They are teachers — which is the usual English pattern for describing what someone is.
Work is what you do, a job is the position you hold
Job is countable: I have a job, she has two jobs. Work is uncountable and covers the activity: I have a lot of work today, I go to work at eight. So I have a work is wrong, and I go to job is wrong for the same reason in reverse.
Modern job titles do not name a gender
Current English prefers police officer to policeman, firefighter to fireman, and flight attendant to the older gendered terms. Actor now covers everyone, with actress increasingly limited to award categories. Learning the neutral form first means learning the version that is actually current.
Words learners mix up
Two tables. The first is a British habit that surprises everybody: the place is named after the person, with an apostrophe. The second is how English builds a job name out of a verb, and the one word on this list where that goes wrong.
Going to the doctor’s, not to the doctor
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| doctor | The person. The place they work is the doctor’s, with an apostrophe and no noun after it. | I am going to the doctor’s. |
| dentist | The same shape: you have an appointment at the dentist’s. | She is at the dentist’s this morning. |
| baker | And the same for shops: the baker’s is where the bread is. | Buy some bread at the baker’s. |
The missing noun is surgery or shop, and English simply stopped saying it. Go to the doctor is also correct and common, so you are not choosing between right and wrong — but the version with the apostrophe is what you will hear in Britain, and it is the one that makes a place out of a person.
How English builds a job out of a verb
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| driver | Verb plus -er, which is what most jobs on this list do: drive, clean, farm, bake, write, sing. | My father is a bus driver. |
| actor | A small group takes -or instead. There is no way to hear which group a verb belongs to. | She is a famous actor. |
| cook | The one that breaks the pattern: the person is a cook. A cooker is the machine in the kitchen. | He works as a cook. |
Cooker is worth ten minutes of your time, because I am a cooker is a sentence almost every learner produces once. In British English a cooker is the oven and hob you cook on. The professional version of a cook is a chef, which is French and only used for restaurants.
Collocations that sound natural
Four jobs and the phrases around them. One of these teaches a grammar point you will need often: the police takes a plural verb.
doctor
see a doctorgo to the doctora family doctorDoctor Smith
You see a doctor rather than visiting or meeting one. With a surname the word becomes a title and takes a capital: Doctor Smith, usually shortened to Dr Smith in writing.
police officer
call the policea police officerthe police are herea police station
The police is always plural in English: the police are coming, never is coming. For one person you need the full phrase a police officer.
nurse
work as a nursea nurse looks after patientsa school nursethe night nurse
Use work as plus the article to say what somebody does for a living: she works as a nurse. Leaving out the a is the same mistake as leaving it out after am.
manager
the manager of a shopask to speak to the managera bank manager
The manager of something, not the manager from it. In Britain speak to the manager is what you say when a complaint has gone past the person in front of you.
Where each word belongs
Five job words that need a note. One is what you say and not what you write, one means something different in Britain than the dictionary suggests, and one is a way of calling a waiter that British people never use.
- bossSpeech onlyPerfectly normal out loud — I’ll ask my boss — and out of place in writing, where it becomes my manager. Never a title: nobody is called Boss Smith.
- waiterNot an addressThe word for the job, but you do not shout it across a restaurant in Britain. Catch their eye and say Excuse me, which is the polite way everywhere.
- vetBritish · short formShort for veterinary surgeon, and the only version anybody says. Like the doctor’s, the place takes an apostrophe: we took the cat to the vet’s.
- cleanerBritishThe person who cleans a building or a house. Americans say janitor for a school or office and housekeeper for a home.
- engineerWider in BritainIt covers the university-trained job, and also the person who comes to repair your boiler or your broadband. Both are engineers, and the second meaning is the commoner one at home.
Sentences to try
Four frames for talking about work — yours and other people’s.
- What do you do? — I am a teacher.
- My sister is an artist and my brother is a driver.
- She works in a hospital. She is a nurse.
- I go to work by bus every morning.
Questions about jobs vocabulary
Do I say "I am doctor" or "I am a doctor"?
I am a doctor. English requires the indefinite article before a singular job, and leaving it out is ungrammatical rather than merely informal. Many languages — including Russian, Turkish, Polish and most of the Slavic family — drop it, which is why this particular error is so widespread and so persistent. The article vanishes only in the plural: We are doctors.
Do I say "a job" or "a work"?
Job is a countable noun for the position you hold: I have a new job, she applied for three jobs. Work is uncountable and covers the activity or the place: I have too much work, I leave work at five. So a work is wrong, and so is I go to job — the fixed phrase for the place is go to work, with no article at all.
How do I ask someone what their job is?
The natural question is What do you do? — the words for a living are understood and rarely said. What is your job? is grammatically fine but sounds like a form rather than a conversation. Answer with the article: I am a teacher, or add detail with I work in plus a place or field: I work in a bank, I work in education.