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Lesson 14.11A1

Basic Jobs & Occupations

बुनियादी काम-धंधे

French job nouns usually come in matching masculine/feminine pairs — a pattern Hindi already has too (शिक्षक/शिक्षिका) — and there's a neat grammar shortcut for stating your job that drops the article, which comes completely naturally to Hindi speakers since Hindi has no articles at all.

Grammar Comparison

व्याकरण तुलना

je suis + profession, no article — trivial for Hindi, which has no articles

French

Je suis professeur. (I am a teacher.) — not Je suis un professeur.

Hindi

मैं शिक्षक हूँ। — हिंदी में कोई article ही नहीं होता

When stating an unmodified profession after être, French drops the indefinite article entirely: je suis médecin, not je suis un médecin. This is one of the easiest French rules for a Hindi speaker specifically, because Hindi has no articles at all in any context — मैं शिक्षक हूँ never had an 'a' to insert in the first place, so there's no habit to unlearn the way there would be for a language that always requires one. The article comes back only if the profession is described with an adjective: Je suis un bon médecin ('I'm a good doctor') — at that point French needs un, while Hindi would still say मैं एक अच्छा डॉक्टर हूँ only optionally, since even here एक ('one/a') isn't grammatically required the way un is in French.

Most job nouns have distinct masculine/feminine forms — Hindi has this too

French

un boulanger / une boulangère (baker) — un cuisinier / une cuisinière (cook)

Hindi

रसोइया / रसोइन — हिंदी में भी कई पेशों के अलग-अलग लिंग-रूप होते हैं

Following the general pattern of French nouns, most professions have separate masculine and feminine forms, often built with the same -er/-ère or -eur/-euse suffix swaps you see in adjectives. Hindi has a genuine parallel here: शिक्षक/शिक्षिका (teacher), रसोइया/रसोइन (cook), and similar pairs already mark the worker's gender in the noun itself, so the underlying habit — a profession word changing shape for a man versus a woman — isn't new, even though the specific endings differ. Some French professions, like médecin ('doctor'), have traditionally stayed invariant regardless of gender, closer to how Hindi's डॉक्टर (a borrowed word) also doesn't change — though France's language authorities have been gradually introducing feminine forms (une médecin, une professeure) for titles that were historically masculine-only, a shift still in progress.

Vocabulary

शब्दावली

un boulanger / une boulangèreboo-lahn-ZHAY / boo-lahn-ZHAIR
Hindi
नानबाईnānbāī
English
baker
un professeur / une professeureproh-feh-SUHR
Hindi
शिक्षक/शिक्षिकाśikṣak/śikṣikā
English
teacher
un médecinmayd-SAN
Hindi
डॉक्टरḍākṭar
English
doctor
un avocat / une avocateah-voh-KAH / ah-voh-KAHT
Hindi
वकीलvakīl
English
lawyer
un ingénieur / une ingénieurean-zhay-nee-UHR
Hindi
इंजीनियरinjīniyar
English
engineer
un cuisinier / une cuisinièrekwee-zee-nee-AY / kwee-zee-nee-AIR
Hindi
रसोइया/रसोइनrasoiyā/rasoin
English
cook
un infirmier / une infirmièrean-feer-mee-AY / an-feer-mee-AIR
Hindi
नर्सnars
English
nurse
je suis...zhuh swee
Hindi
मैं...हूँmaiñ...hūñ
English
I am (a/an)... [profession, no article]
il/elle travaille comme...eel/el trah-VAI kom
Hindi
वह...का काम करता/करती हैvah...kā kām kartā/kartī hai
English
he/she works as a/an...