I can say what I do for a living — Som lekár / lekárka, Pracujem ako predavačka — and form the feminine of a job by the pattern.
What you do for a living: jobs and the feminine form
What you do for a living: jobs and the feminine form
Why: to say what you do for a living, about yourself and about others.
“I'm a doctor” is Som lekár (a woman: Som lekárka), with no ako and no word for “a”.
“I work as a doctor” is Pracujem ako lekár: after ako the word stays in its dictionary form; the ending doesn't change.
The feminine form follows a pattern: -ka (lekár → lekárka), k → č + -ka (spevák → speváčka), -ec → -ečka (herec → herečka), -a → -yňa (kolega → kolegyňa), -ca → -kyňa (dôchodca → dôchodkyňa).
kolega and dôchodca are masculine although they end in -a: môj kolega, ten dôchodca.
Where? For now, as whole phrases: v práci (at work), v kancelárii (at the office), v škole (at school), na univerzite (at the university), na fakulte (at the department). Why the word changes comes later.
doktor is mostly a title and a form of address (pán doktor Hudák); the job is lekár.
dôchodca means “retiree”; the colloquial word is penzista / penzistka.
Common mistakes:
• × Pracujem lekár. → Pracujem ako lekár.
• × Som ako lekár. → Som lekár.
• × kolegka → kolegyňa
The feminine form of jobs
The pattern also works for words that aren't in the table.
| Pattern | He | She |
|---|---|---|
| + -ka | lekár | lekárka |
| + -ka | asistent | asistentka |
| k → č + -ka | pracovník | pracovníčka |
| -ec → -ečka | herec | herečka |
| -a → -yňa | kolega | kolegyňa |
| -ca → -kyňa | dôchodca | dôchodkyňa |
Lesson notes
What you do for a living: jobs and the feminine form
Why: to say what you do for a living, about yourself and about others.
“I'm a doctor” is Som lekár (a woman: Som lekárka), with no ako and no word for “a”.
“I work as a doctor” is Pracujem ako lekár: after ako the word stays in its dictionary form; the ending doesn't change.
The feminine form follows a pattern: -ka (lekár → lekárka), k → č + -ka (spevák → speváčka), -ec → -ečka (herec → herečka), -a → -yňa (kolega → kolegyňa), -ca → -kyňa (dôchodca → dôchodkyňa).
kolega and dôchodca are masculine although they end in -a: môj kolega, ten dôchodca.
Where? For now, as whole phrases: v práci (at work), v kancelárii (at the office), v škole (at school), na univerzite (at the university), na fakulte (at the department). Why the word changes comes later.
doktor is mostly a title and a form of address (pán doktor Hudák); the job is lekár.
dôchodca means “retiree”; the colloquial word is penzista / penzistka.
Common mistakes:
• × Pracujem lekár. → Pracujem ako lekár.
• × Som ako lekár. → Som lekár.
• × kolegka → kolegyňa