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Mythic Mandarin

What do you do?

HSK 1 Unit 2: Family and age · Lesson 3 of 5 · About 15 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can ask and say what someone does for work, and use 先生 and 太太 with family names.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 爸爸 mean?

    1. dad
    2. that
    3. this
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, dad.

    爸爸 (bàba) means dad.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “dad”?

    1. 爸爸
    2. 医生
    3. 名字
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 爸爸.

    “dad” is 爸爸 (bàba).

  3. Listening

    From an earlier unit. Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    吃 chī

    1. can (a learned skill)
    2. to eat
    3. sorry
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, to eat.

    You heard 吃 (chī): to eat.

New words

  • 工作gōngzuòwork, job, to work
  • 做zuòto do
  • 司机sījīdriver
  • 公司gōngsīcompany
  • 先生xiānshengMr, husband
  • 太太tàitaiMrs, wife

Asking about work

To ask what someone does, say 你做什么工作？, literally you do what work? To answer, use 是 and the job.

  • 你做什么工作？

    Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?

    What do you do?

  • 我是司机。

    Wǒ shì sījī.

    I'm a driver.

  • 他的公司很大。

    Tā de gōngsī hěn dà.

    His company is big.

工作 is both a noun (a job) and a verb (to work): 我工作, I work.

先生 and 太太

先生 (xiānsheng) is Mr, and 太太 (tàitai) is Mrs. The family name comes first: 王先生, Mr Wang.

  • 刘太太，你好！

    Liú tàitai, nǐ hǎo!

    Hello, Mrs Liu!

我先生 is my husband and 我太太 is my wife. With close family, 的 is usually left out: 我妈妈, 他太太.

  • Not: 先生王

    But: 王先生 Wáng xiānsheng

    Family name first, then the title.

Characters

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

What do you do?

Chen Jing and Zhang Wei meet at a friend's dinner.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. What does Chen Jing do?

    1. She is a driver.
    2. She is a teacher.
    3. She is a doctor.
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, She is a teacher..

    陈静 says 我是老师: a teacher.

  2. Listening

    What does Zhang Wei's wife do?

    1. She is a doctor.
    2. She is a driver.
    3. She is a teacher.
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, She is a doctor..

    张伟 says 她是医生: she is a doctor.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 陈静

    你好Nǐ hǎo！我Wǒ叫jiào陈静Chén Jìng。

    Hello! My name is Chen Jing.

  2. 张伟

    你好Nǐ hǎo！你Nǐ做zuò什么shénme工作gōngzuò？

    Hello! What do you do?

  3. 陈静

    我Wǒ是shì老师lǎoshī。你Nǐ呢ne？

    I'm a teacher. And you?

  4. 张伟

    我Wǒ是shì司机sījī。

    I'm a driver.

  5. 陈静

    你Nǐ太太tàitai也yě是shì司机sījī吗ma？

    Is your wife a driver too?

  6. 张伟

    不Bú是shì，她tā是shì医生yīshēng。

    No, she's a doctor.

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 你太太也是司机吗？

    Nǐ tàitai yě shì sījī ma?

    Is your wife a driver too?

  • 你好！你做什么工作？

    Nǐ hǎo! Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?

    Hello! What do you do?

  • 我是司机。

    Wǒ shì sījī.

    I'm a driver.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 工作 mean?

    1. work, job, to work
    2. it doesn't matter
    3. thank you
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, work, job, to work.

    工作 (gōngzuò) means work, job, to work.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “to do”?

    1. 那
    2. 岁
    3. 做
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 做.

    “to do” is 做 (zuò).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 司机 (driver)?

    1. síjī
    2. sìjī
    3. sījī
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, sījī.

    司机 is read sījī. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    公司 gōngsī

    1. seven
    2. kuai (unit of money, spoken)
    3. company
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, company.

    You heard 公司 (gōngsī): company.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 先生 (Mr, husband). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: xiānsheng

    先生 is xiānsheng in pinyin.

  6. Grammar

    How do you say Mr Wang?

    1. 先生王
    2. 王先生
    3. 王的先生
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 王先生.

    王先生: family name first.

  7. Fill the gap

    Complete: What do you do?

    你做什么＿＿？

    1. 公司
    2. 工作
    3. 司机
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 工作.

    你做什么工作？ 工作 is work.

  8. In context

    You want to introduce your wife. What do you say?

    1. 这是我先生。
    2. 这是我姐姐。
    3. 这是我太太。
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 这是我太太。.

    这是我太太。: 我太太 is my wife.

  9. Word order

    Put the words in order: His wife is a doctor.

    • 是
    • 他
    • 医生
    • 太太
    Show the answer

    他太太是医生 Tā tàitai shì yīshēng.

    His wife is a doctor.

    他太太是医生。 No 的 with close family.

Jobs around you

Say what three people you know do for work, out loud.

  1. Say your job: 我是…。
  2. Say two other people's jobs: 我爸爸是…。
  3. Ask a friend: 你做什么工作？

Sentence frames

  • 我＿＿是＿＿。

    Wǒ ＿＿ shì ＿＿.

    My ... is a ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I can ask 你做什么工作？ and answer with 是.
  • I put the family name before 先生 and 太太.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: All of us together: 都 and 一起