Work & Career
Work & Career
Talking about jobs and careers brings together formal vocabulary you'll hear constantly in interviews, offices, and everyday small talk — and revisits the dative case in a preposition you might not expect.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
bei + employer takes the dative
Ich arbeite bei einer Firma. (I work at a company.)
I work at a company.
bei is one of the fixed-dative prepositions from the earlier prepositions lesson, and it's the default choice for naming an employer or workplace — easy to forget once several lessons have passed since you first memorized the dative-preposition list. English 'at' gives no clue about case at all, so this pairing (bei + dative) needs to be actively remembered rather than guessed from the English translation.
arbeiten als + profession, no article
Sie arbeitet als Ärztin. (She works as a doctor.)
She works as a doctor.
When naming a profession after als ('as'), German drops the article entirely — Sie arbeitet als Ärztin, not als eine Ärztin — matching a similar pattern you've likely already seen with Ich bin Lehrer ('I am a teacher', no article). English does the opposite, requiring 'a/an' in both cases ('she works as a doctor'), so resist the urge to insert ein/eine here.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| der Beruf | dair beh-ROOF | profession |
| die Arbeit / arbeiten | dee AHR-byt / AHR-by-ten | work / to work |
| die Firma | dee FEER-mah | company |
| der Chef / die Chefin | dair shef / dee SHEF-in | boss |
| das Gehalt | dahs geh-HAHLT | salary |
| die Bewerbung | dee beh-VER-boong | job application |
| der Lebenslauf | dair LAY-bens-lowf | résumé / CV |
| das Vorstellungsgespräch | dahs for-SHTEL-oongs-geh-shpraykh | job interview |
| die Erfahrung | dee air-FAH-roong | experience |
| die Kündigung | dee KUEN-dee-goong | dismissal / resignation |
| der Kollege / die Kollegin | dair kol-AY-geh / dee kol-AY-gin | colleague |
| befördert werden | beh-FUR-dert VAIR-den | to be promoted |
| die Teilzeit / die Vollzeit | dee TILE-tsyte / dee FOL-tsyte | part-time / full-time |