Hover a line for its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Lena and Alex talk about work over lunch.
Spaß machen is how German says something is fun, and the thing doing the pleasing is the subject: Das macht Spaß is literally "that makes fun". You cannot say Ich habe Spaß mit meiner Arbeit the way English says "I have fun". Die Arbeit macht Spaß — the work does the making. eigentlich is one of those small German words that does more than it looks. Its dictionary meaning is "actually", but in speech it mostly softens a question and signals mild curiosity rather than interrogation: Was machst du eigentlich beruflich? is friendlier than the same question without it. Leave it out and you sound like you are filling in a form. A note on Krankenschwester, literally "sick-sister". It is still the everyday word, but the official job title changed in 2020 to Pflegefachfrau and Pflegefachmann, partly to include men, and Krankenpfleger is the long-standing masculine form. You will hear all of them. The change is worth knowing about because German job titles are being revised in this direction generally, and the older word can sound dated in a professional setting.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. Jobs take no article
Where English says "I am a student", German drops the article entirely: Ich bin Student. The same goes for Sie ist Krankenschwester, Er ist Lehrer, Ich bin Übersetzer. This holds for nationalities and religions too — Ich bin Kanadier, Sie ist Deutsche. The article comes back only if you add a describing word: Er ist ein guter Lehrer. Adding it otherwise is not wrong so much as odd, in the way "I am the student" would be odd in English.
2. arbeiten als
To say what capacity you work in, use als with no article: Ich arbeite als Übersetzer. To say who you work for, use bei plus the employer: Ich arbeite bei einer Firma, bei Siemens, bei einer Bank. To say where physically, use in: Ich arbeite in einem Krankenhaus, or with the contraction, im Krankenhaus. The three are easy to confuse and they answer three different questions — as what, for whom, and where.
3. denn — because, without the word order
German has two words for "because" and they behave completely differently. denn is a coordinating conjunction: it joins two full sentences and changes nothing about either, so the verb stays in second position. Stimmt, denn wir arbeiten oft nachts. The other one, weil, throws the verb to the end of its clause, and it arrives in Lesson 19. Until then denn does the job and asks nothing new of you, which is exactly why it comes first.
4. bei, in, als — three ways to place a job
bei and in are both followed by the dative, which is why you see bei einer Firma rather than bei eine Firma, and im Krankenhaus rather than in das Krankenhaus. The dative is not formally taught until Lesson 15 — for now, learn these as set phrases: bei einer Firma, bei einem Kollegen, im Krankenhaus, in einer Schule. You have already been using the same case every time you said zum Bahnhof or am Freitag.
5. Asking what someone does
Was machst du beruflich? is the everyday version and Was sind Sie von Beruf? the formal one. Both are safe with a stranger — unlike asking what someone earns, which is a genuine taboo in Germany and considerably more private than in English-speaking countries. To answer, name the job with no article, and add where or as what if you want to say more. Arbeitest du? on its own asks whether someone is employed at all, which is a different and more loaded question.
A. Fill in the Blank · Ergänzen Sie
Fill in the blank with a word from this lesson.
- 1.Ich bin .student (no article)
- 2.Ich arbeite Übersetzer.as (a job)
- 3.Stimmt, wir arbeiten oft nachts.because (normal word order)
- 4.Macht das ?fun
B. Multiple Choice · Wählen Sie
Choose the correct German.
- 1.How do you say "I'm a student"?
- 2.How do you say "I work as a translator"?
- 3.Which word order follows denn?
- 4.Which is correct after bei?
C. Word Order · Bilden Sie Sätze
Put the words in the right order.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · Richtig oder falsch
Decide whether each statement about the dialogue is true.
- 1.Alex studies and works.
- 2.Alex works as a translator.
- 3.Lena works in a school.
- 4.Lena sometimes works at night.
E. Matching · Ordnen Sie zu
Match each question to the answer that fits it.
F. Translation · Übersetzen Sie
Translate between German and English.
- 1.I'm a student.
- 2.I work as a translator.
- 3.Was machst du beruflich?
- 4.Die Arbeit ist wichtig.
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Learning a job instead of studying one
Roughly half of young Germans do not go to university at all, and this is not a failure route — it is the Ausbildung, a two- or three-year apprenticeship that combines paid work at a company with day-release classes at a vocational school. There are around 320 recognized trades, from carpenter and electrician to bank clerk, optician and IT specialist, each with a national curriculum and a final examination administered by the chamber of commerce. Apprentices are paid throughout, typically €900 to €1,200 a month rising each year, and most are kept on by the firm that trained them. The system is a large part of why German youth unemployment stays low, and it carries real status: a Meister — a master craftsman, a further qualification on top — can open their own business and train apprentices, and the title goes on the shop sign. Asking a German what they trained in is a perfectly normal question. Asking what they earn is not.