Jobs and Occupations

Talking about Jobs in Persian

In this chapter you learn how to say common jobs and how to answer simple questions about what you do in Persian. You already know about the verb “to be” from another chapter, so here we will focus on the words for jobs and how they are actually used in everyday Persian.

Saying “job” and “work”

The most common word for “job, work” is “کار” pronounced /kâr/.

You can say:
Man kâr dâram.
“I have a job / I work.”

Or:
Man kâr mikonam.
“I work.”

At this level, you mainly need “کار” (kâr) and the names of jobs.

Basic pattern: I am a …

To say “I am a teacher”, “I am a doctor”, and so on, you put the person, then the job, then the correct form of the verb “to be”.

For now, remember this common spoken pattern:

Man mo'allem-am.
“I am a teacher.”

Man doktôr-am.
“I am a doctor.”

Man daneshjû-am.
“I am a student.”

“Am” at the end is the spoken, attached form of “I am”.

You have already studied the verb “to be” in another chapter, so here we only show how it combines with job words.

Masculine and feminine for jobs

In Persian, job words usually do not change for male or female. Context shows if the person is a man or a woman.

For example:
doktôr = doctor (male or female)
mo'allem = teacher (male or female)

Sometimes for “teacher” you may see:
mo'allem-e mard (male teacher)
mo'allem-e zan (female teacher)

But in everyday speech people often just say “mo'allem”.

Common jobs: people you meet every day

Here are some very common jobs you will hear or need to say about yourself or others.

A doctor is “doktôr”.
Man doktôr-am.
“I am a doctor.”

A nurse is “parastar”.
Un parastar-e.
“He / she is a nurse.”

A teacher is “mo'allem”.
Madare man mo'allem-e.
“My mother is a teacher.”

A student is “daneshjû” (university student) or “daneš-âmoz” (school pupil). At A1 level, “daneshjû” is very common in simple sentences.
Man daneshjû-am.
“I am a student.”

A worker is “kârgar”.
Pedare man kârgar-e.
“My father is a worker.”

An employee, office worker, or clerk is often “karmand”.
Khâhar-am karmand-e.
“My sister is an office worker / employee.”

Shops, restaurants, and service jobs

You often talk about people who work in shops or restaurants.

A seller, shop assistant is “forushande”.
Un forushande-e.
“He / she is a salesperson.”

A waiter is “pishkhedmat” or more colloquially “gârson”. At this level, remember at least one of them.
Un gârson-e.
“He is a waiter.”

A cook is “âshpaz”.
Mâdar-bozorg-am âshpaz-e.
“My grandmother is a cook.”

A driver is “rânande”.
Un rânande-e.
“He / she is a driver.”

A shop owner, boss, or simply “boss” is “râis” or “sâheb-e maghâze” (owner of shop). For beginners “râis” is easier:
Un râis-e.
“He / she is the boss.”

Offices and professional jobs

Here are some jobs you often see in offices and in professional life.

An engineer is “mohandes”.
Dâyam mohandes-e.
“My uncle is an engineer.”

A lawyer is “vâkil”.
Un vâkil-e.
“He / she is a lawyer.”

An accountant is “hesâbdâr”.
Amu-ye man hesâbdâr-e.
“My uncle is an accountant.”

A manager is “modir”.
Un modir-e.
“He / she is a manager.”

A secretary is “monshi”.
Un monshi-e.
“She is a secretary.”

Other common jobs

A police officer is “police” or “mâmur-e police”. At this level you can say “police”.
Un police-e.
“He / she is a police officer.”

A soldier is “sar-bâz”.
Un sar-bâz-e.
“He is a soldier.”

A farmer is “keshâvarz”.
Pedar-bozorg-am keshâvarz-e.
“My grandfather is a farmer.”

An artist is “honarmand”.
Un honarmand-e.
“She is an artist.”

A musician is “musiqi-dân”.
Un musiqi-dân-e.
“He is a musician.”

A writer is “nevisande”.
Un nevisande-e.
“She is a writer.”

Asking about jobs: What is your job?

The most common simple question is:

Shoghl-e to chist?
“What is your job?” (informal “you”)

Shoghl-e shomâ chist?
“What is your job?” (polite/formal)

The word “shoghl” means “job, occupation”.

To answer, you can say only the job, or job plus “am / hastam”:

Doktôr-am.
“I am a doctor.”

Man doktôr-am.
“I am a doctor.”

Man mo'allem-am.
“I am a teacher.”

If you want to say “I do not work / I am not working”, you can use the verb “to be” with “bikâr” which means “without work, unemployed”:

Man bikâr-am.
“I am unemployed.”

Asking where someone works

To ask where someone works, the simplest question at this level is:

Kojâ kâr mikoni?
“Where do you work?” (informal)

Kojâ kâr mikonin?
“Where do you work?” (polite / plural)

To answer, you can say the place and then “kâr mikonam”:

Man dar bânk kâr mikonam.
“I work in a bank.”

Man dar madrese kâr mikonam.
“I work in a school.”

Man dar edâre kâr mikonam.
“I work in an office.”

At this level you just need to recognize this pattern. Detailed present tense explanation is in another chapter.

Talking about someone else’s job

You already know personal pronouns from another chapter. Combine them with job words and the verb “to be” to speak about family or friends.

Examples:

Pedar-am mohandes-e.
“My father is an engineer.”

Mâdar-am mo'allem-e.
“My mother is a teacher.”

Dust-am daneshjû-e.
“My friend is a student.”

Barâdar-am kârgar-e.
“My brother is a worker.”

Khâhar-am parastar-e.
“My sister is a nurse.”

You will learn more about possession in another chapter, so here you only see the pattern quickly.

Short self-introduction with job

You can now make very short introductions:

Man Ali hastam. Mohandes-am.
“My name is Ali. I am an engineer.”

Man Sârâ hastam. Daneshjû-am.
“My name is Sara. I am a student.”

Man Reza hastam. Dar resturân âshpaz-am.
“My name is Reza. I am a cook in a restaurant.”

You already know greetings and introductions from another chapter, so here the focus is the job words and where to put them in the sentence.

Vocabulary table for this section