Reference · module 25
Work and study
Everything this module explains, on one page.
The job itself
Describe what you do for a living.
- A profession after ser takes no article: Soy ingeniero. Adding one turns it into a description: Es un ingeniero excelente.
- dedicarse a asks what somebody does: ¿A qué te dedicas? It is the polite everyday question.
- The vocabulary of a contract: el sueldo, la jornada, el horario, las prácticas, el paro, la baja.
The mistake you are about to make
Soy un ingeniero.
Soy ingeniero.
English needs the article — I am an engineer. After ser Spanish drops it.
The interview
Present your experience.
- llevar plus a gerund gives how long: Llevo tres años trabajando aquí. It is shorter than the hace construction.
- Experience: tengo experiencia en, me encargo de, he trabajado como, soy responsable de.
- Strengths are usually softened: Se me da bien trabajar en equipo. Creo que soy bastante organizado.
The mistake you are about to make
Llevo tres años que trabajo aquí.
Llevo tres años trabajando aquí.
It looks like llevar needs a whole clause after it. It takes the gerund: llevo tres años trabajando.
In the office
Arrange meetings and pass on messages.
- quedar arranges a meeting: Quedamos el martes a las diez. Quedarse, with the pronoun, means to stay instead.
- An email opens Estimado señor or Hola and closes Un saludo or Atentamente. Saludos cordiales sits between the two.
- To move a meeting: aplazar or posponer. To cancel it: cancelar or anular. Adelantar brings it forward.
The mistake you are about to make
Me quedo con Ana el martes.
Quedo con Ana el martes.
Quedarse means to stay. Arranging to meet is quedar, with no pronoun.
Studying
Talk about education and courses.
- la carrera is a degree, la asignatura a subject, el curso a year or a course, la beca a scholarship.
- aprobar is to pass and suspender is to fail. Neither means what its English lookalike suggests.
- sacar buenas notas is to get good marks, and matricularse en is to enrol on something.
The mistake you are about to make
Suspendí el examen (= сдал).
Aprobé el examen.
Suspend sounds like it could mean finishing. Suspender means failing; passing is aprobar.