N4 · 36 words

Jobs and work

What people do for a living, and the first words of working life.

Many job words are built with a suffix: 〜員(いん) for a member of staff (会社員(かいしゃいん), 店員(てんいん), 駅員(えきいん)) and 〜家(か) for someone with a craft or an art (音楽家(おんがくか), 漫画家(まんがか)). Asked what they do, people in Japan often name the place rather than the job: 銀行(ぎんこう)で働(はたら)いています, "I work at a bank". A job followed by をしています says what someone works as: コックをしています.

The words

Verb (1)

働くto workVerbN5

姉(あね)は病院(びょういん)で働(はたら)いています。My older sister works at a hospital.

The workplace takes で.

This list belongs to Work and careers — nine lists and 356 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Practise this list

Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 36 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.