Spanish Lesson 10: Occupations and Nationalities | Worksheet included

Hola y bienvenidos a la clase de español.

Hoy vamos a hablar de ocupaciones y nacionalidades.   Today we’ll talk about occupations and nationalities.

 

Nationalities and Discussing Nationality

 

This list includes Spain and the Latin American countries.

List of Nationalities in Spanish

Country Nationality – Male Nationality – Female
Argentina Argentino Argentina
Bolivia Boliviano Boliviana
Brazil Brasileño Brasileño
Chile Chileno Chilena
Colombia Colombiano Colombiana
Costa Rica Costarricense Costarricense
Cuba Cubano Cubana
Ecuador Ecuatoriano Ecuatoriana
El Salvador Salvadoreño Salvadoreña
Guatemala Guatemalteco Guatemalteca
Hoduras Hondureño Hondureña
México Mexicano Mexicana
Nicaragua Nicaragüense Nicaragüense
Panamá Panameño Panameña
Paraguay Paraguayo Paraguaya
Perú Peruano Peruana
Puerto Rico Puertorriqueño Puertorriqueña
Republica Dominicana Dominicano Dominicana
Spain (España) Español Española
Uruguay Uruguayo Uruguaya
Venezuela Venezolano Venezolana

 

A few other countries..

Country Nationality – Male Nationality – Female
Britain Británico Británica
Canada Canadiense Canadiense
China Chino China
France Francés Francesa
United States Estadounidense Estadounidense

 

How to ask and answer about Nationality

¿De dónde eres? Where are you from? (informal)
¿De dónde es ud.? Where are you from? (formal)
¿Cuál es tu nacionalidad? What is your nationality? (informal)
¿Cuál es su nacionalidad? What is your nationality? (formal)
Soy de Bolivia I am from Bolivia
Soy boliviano/ a I am Bolivian

 

 

Gender of Nouns 

In Spanish, nouns are considered to be either masculine or feminine. Often, when a noun ends in “o” it is masculine and, when it ends in “a”, it is feminine.  But this is a very loose generalisation and there are MANY exceptions.
A nationality is considered an adjective, describing a person.  Adjectives agree with nouns in gender and number. (We’ll go more into that in a future lesson)

 

Since nationalities are adjectives, they must change to agree with the person(s) being described.

Ejemplos:

Eduardo es colombiano.

Carla es colombiana.

Eduaro y Carla son colombianos.

Note: In Spanish the nationality is written with a common letter when it is NOT at the start of a new sentence.

 

Practice:

In Spanish, say “My name is (name). I am (nationality)”

Me llamo… Soy….

Remember to adjust the nationality according to your chosen gender.

 

Las Profesiones

Remember in Spanish, nouns are either masculine or feminine. When giving your profession, you must either use the masculine or feminine form depending on your gender.

 

List of Occupations in Spanish

Profession Male Female
Actor El actor La actriz
Artist El artista La artista
Business(wo)man El Hombre de negocios La Mujer de negocios
Chef El chef/ jefe de cocina La chef/ jefa de cocina
Doctor El médico La médica
Engineer El ingeniero La ingeniera
Fire(wo)man El bombero La bombera
Journalist El periodista La periodista
Lawyer El abogado La abogada
Librarian El bibilotecario La bibilotecaria
Manager El gerente La gerente
Nurse El enfermero La enfermera
Plumber El plomero La plomera
Police El policía La policía
Scientist El científico La científica
Secretary El secretario La secretaria
Singer El cantante La cantante
Student El estudiante / El alumno La estudiante / La alumna
Waiter El mesero / camarero La mesera / camarera
Writer El escritor La escritora

 

Note: some of the professions (example cantante and policía) use the same word for both the male and female forms.  The definite article (el/ la) indicates the gender of the person.

When asked ¿Cuál es tu profesión? or ¿Cuál es tu ocupación?

You should respond

Soy profesor (male)

I am a teacher

Soy profesora (female)

 

Note: Even though in English we say “I am a teacher”, in Spanish the “a” is not used.

Soy un carpintero. X

Soy carpintero. √  (I am a carpenter)

It is incorrect to say “Soy un carpintero”

 

 

Practice Exercise with Worksheet

I’ve included a worksheet for you to practice the vocabulary and grammar learnt over the last few lessons.  You already learnt how to give your age and birth date.  Today you learnt how to say your profession and nationality.  Download the worksheet and put your knowledge into practice!

Spanish Lesson on Providing Personal Information

Spanish Exercise: ID Card Fill in the Blanks

Leave a note in the comments to let me know how you did.

 

Pin It!

Spanish lesson on Occupation and Nationality

 

 

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6 Comments

  1. Dani Kay August 31, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    Such a helpful post!! I really need to get back to my Spanish lessons. For some reasons the “Where are you from?” /”What are you?” question variations were always hard for me to keep straight!

    Reply
    1. K D September 6, 2018 at 10:30 pm

      I’m glad you enjoyed and found it useful Dani!! I find my students often mix up trying to say their nationality and country. I hope you do get back to practicing. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Diana Tyler (Eccentric Muse) September 2, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    Another great and helpful lesson! Keep up the wonderful work with these posts, Kim!

    Reply
    1. K D September 6, 2018 at 10:31 pm

      Thanks for the encouragement Diana. Soon be back at it! 🙂

      Reply
      1. Diana Tyler (Eccentric Muse) September 7, 2018 at 11:44 am

        I look forward to your presence on here once again! 💙💙

  3. Pingback: Spanish Lesson 6: 25 Commonly Used Expressions in Conversational Spanish - Over The Andes

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