I can name a job — mine or someone else's — in the masculine and the feminine, ask “Quelle est votre profession ?”, and not add an extra article after être.
Jobs: no article, but with gender
Jobs: no article, but with gender
To say what you do and what the people around you do, you need one rule and a few words.
After être, a job takes no article: “Je suis médecin”, “Il est boulanger”. English says “I'm a doctor”, with “a”; French drops it.
After c'est and ce sont the article is needed: “C'est un médecin”, “Ce sont des serveurs” — compare “Il est médecin” with no article.
In exercises where no article is needed, write a hyphen “-”: it shows you know the rule, not that you forgot a word.
English job words mostly have one form; French has a feminine: -eur becomes -euse, -ien becomes -ienne, -er becomes -ère. Words ending in -e don't change at all: un journaliste, une journaliste. The table shows all five groups.
Médecin and professeur are the same for a man and a woman.
To ask about someone's job, use the set phrase “Quelle est votre profession ?”
Some plurals are not what you'd expect: le travail — les travaux, le bureau — les bureaux. The dictionary gives that form in parentheses.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Je suis un médecin.” — no article after être.
• NOT “Manon est médecine.” — la médecine is the science; a doctor is médecin.
• NOT “Louis est vendeuse.” — a feminine form for a man.
• NOT “C'est médecin.” — after c'est, a job takes an article.
• NOT “Quel est votre profession ?” — profession is feminine.
Jobs: he and she
Two words — médecin and professeur — are the same for a man and a woman.
| He | She | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| un vendeur | une vendeuse | -eur → -euse |
| un musicien | une musicienne | -ien → -ienne |
| un boulanger | une boulangère | -er → -ère |
| un journaliste | une journaliste | ends in -e: same form |
| il est médecin | elle est médecin | one form for everyone |
Lesson notes
Jobs: no article, but with gender
To say what you do and what the people around you do, you need one rule and a few words.
After être, a job takes no article: “Je suis médecin”, “Il est boulanger”. English says “I'm a doctor”, with “a”; French drops it.
After c'est and ce sont the article is needed: “C'est un médecin”, “Ce sont des serveurs” — compare “Il est médecin” with no article.
In exercises where no article is needed, write a hyphen “-”: it shows you know the rule, not that you forgot a word.
English job words mostly have one form; French has a feminine: -eur becomes -euse, -ien becomes -ienne, -er becomes -ère. Words ending in -e don't change at all: un journaliste, une journaliste. The table shows all five groups.
Médecin and professeur are the same for a man and a woman.
To ask about someone's job, use the set phrase “Quelle est votre profession ?”
Some plurals are not what you'd expect: le travail — les travaux, le bureau — les bureaux. The dictionary gives that form in parentheses.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Je suis un médecin.” — no article after être.
• NOT “Manon est médecine.” — la médecine is the science; a doctor is médecin.
• NOT “Louis est vendeuse.” — a feminine form for a man.
• NOT “C'est médecin.” — after c'est, a job takes an article.
• NOT “Quel est votre profession ?” — profession is feminine.