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Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

In this short course you will learn how to talk about your work and your working day. You will learn vocabulary for different professions, say what your job is, and how you go to work.

This course is an extract from the L106 Introduction to Spanish Studies (beginners) course. Whether you are a complete beginner or have some knowledge of Spanish you could give it a go and we hope that you enjoy the course!

The course comprises 4 hours of interactive activities, explanations, and tips about language learning.

It’s a good idea to keep notes, either on paper in a notebook or on your preferred digital device, of the points you want to remember, such as key vocabulary, grammar rules, or expressions. There’s also a quiz at the end of the course for you to practise what you’ve learnt.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

talk about what you do for a living
explain how you go to work
conjugate come common regular and irregular verbs in the present tense.

This course is an extract from the L106 Introduction to Spanish Studies (beginners) course. Enjoy!

1 Professions

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

In this section you will learn vocabulary for different professions (profesiones, also called oficios), and their gender.

In this activity you will look at several professions and learn how to refer to men and women who have the same profession.

From left to right: Mónica Ojeda, escritora; Claudia Llosa, directora; Eduardo Galeano, escritor

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This is a collage of three photos: Mónica Ojeda, Claudia Llosa and Eduardo Galeano.

From left to right: Mónica Ojeda, escritora; Claudia Llosa, directora; Eduardo Galeano, escritor

In this activity you will look at several professions and learn how to refer to men and women who have the same profession.

Paso A

To begin by attuning your ear to Spanish, listen to Audio 1, a song about professions. Do not try to understand it, just focus on the rhythm of the language. The following traditional professions are mentioned: botellero ‘bottle seller’, carpintero ‘carpenter’ and panadero ‘baker’.

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Audio 1

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Transcript: Audio 1

Quiérome casá’, yo no sé con quién (bis)

Cásate con un botellero que eso a ti sí te cumbé (bis)

Y ese botellero, a mí no me cumbén (bis)

Botellero vende botellas, puede venderme a mí también… (bis)

Y a mí no me cumbén… y a mí no me cumbén (bis)

Cásate con un carpintero que eso a ti sí te cumbé (bis)

Y ese carpintero, a mí no me cumbén (bis)

Carpintero corta madera, puede cortarme a mí también… (bis)

Y a mí no me cumbén… y a mí no me cumbén (bis)

Cásate con un panadero que eso a ti sí te cumbé (bis)

Y ese panadero, a mí no me cumbén (bis)

Panadero amasa la harina, puede amasarme a mí también… (bis)

Y a mí no me cumbén… y a mí no me cumbén (bis)

A mí no me cumbén, a mí no me cumbén,

a mí no me cumbén, a mí no me cumbén,

No me cumbén, no me cumbén,

no me cumbén, no me cumbén…

End transcript: Audio 1

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Audio 1

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Paso B

Here is a list of famous people from the Spanish-speaking world. Read who they are, and then complete the table with the correct word for each profession. The first one has been done for you.

Mónica Ojeda, escritora ecuatoriana
Claudia Llosa, directora de cine peruana
Eduardo Galeano, escritor y periodista uruguayo
Guillermo del Toro, director de cine mexicano
Sofía Vergara, actriz colombiana
Luis Fonsi, cantante portorriqueño
Marta Gómez, cantante colombiana
Álvaro Morte, actor español

	Male	Female
singer	cantante	1, Your response 1
writer	2, Your response 2	3, Your response 3
director	4, Your response 4	5, Your response 5
actor	6, Your response 6	7, Your response 7

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Answer

	Male	Female
singer	cantante	cantante
writer	escritor	escritora
director	director	directora
actor	actor	actriz

Paso C

Complete the table with the missing masculine and feminine forms of Spanish words for people in these professions. You may want to look up words you don’t know in the dictionary.

Male	Female
el pintor	la pintora
el secretario	8, Your response 8
el recepcionista	9, Your response 9
10, Your response 10	la estudiante
11, Your response 11	la camarera
12, Your response 12	la repartidora

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Answer

Male	Female
el pintor	la pintora
el secretario	la secretaria
el recepcionista	la recepcionista
el estudiante	la estudiante
el camarero	la camarera
el repartidor	la repartidora

Language 1: Gender of professions

Most nouns denoting professional activities have the usual gender markings: -o for male and -a for female. A few follow other patterns or use the same word for both genders.

Ending	Masculine	Feminine
‑o for masculine ‑a for feminine	el diputado	la diputada	member of parliament
consonant for masculine, consonant + ‑a for feminine	el profesor el bailarín	la profesora la bailarina	teacher dancer
‑ante ‑ente ‑ista	el estudiante el gerente el artista	la estudiante la gerente la artista	student manager artist

Ending

Masculine

Feminine

‑o for masculine

‑a for feminine

el diputado

la diputada

member of parliament

consonant for

masculine,

consonant + ‑a

for feminine

el profesor

el bailarín

la profesora

la bailarina

teacher

dancer

‑ante

‑ente

‑ista

el estudiante

el gerente

el artista

la estudiante

la gerente

la artista

student

manager

artist

You will see that the endings in the last row (-ante, -ente and -ista) are the same for masculine and feminine. Note also that the masculine ending -ín has an accent mark while the feminine does not (bailarín/bailarina).

Note that many words for professions end in -ero/-era (as in camarero/camarera) and -or/-ora (as in profesor/profesora).

It is always advisable to check the gender of nouns in the dictionary.

To finish this section, watch this short Video 1 about verbs and verb forms in Spanish and define the following terms. It doesn’t have to be a formal definition, just an explanation in your own words.

1. verb stem

2. verb ending

3. to conjugate

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Video 1

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Transcript: Video 1

The majority of verbs in Spanish end in - ar , for instance hablar – to speak

You have already come across a few like llamar – to call, mirar – to see/to look.

They are said to belong to the first conjugation.

There are also verbs that end in - er or - ir.

These belong to the second and third conjugations respectively.

This form of the verb, that ends in - ar, - er or - ir, is called the infinitive. The form you will find in dictionaries and which is preceded by ‘to’ in English, like ‘to speak’.

To conjugate a verb in Spanish, that is to form the right form, the adequate form in the sentence, you need to remove the - ar, - er or - ir ending from the infinitive.

What is left is called the stem, which does not change in the vast majority of Spanish verbs.

The stem serves as the base to which we add endings. There is a different ending for each person. These are the endings in the singular for all regular verbs ending in - ar.

Hablar is the infinitive – to speak.

Yo – hablo – I speak, or as an example: Hablo japonés – I speak Japanese.

Hablas – tú – the second person, you informal: Hablas gallego – you speak Galician

Usted habla galés – you (formal) speak Welsh

Juan habla griego – John speaks Greek . Habla – él or ella.

You will have noticed that the verb form for usted (you formal) takes the same ending as the third person, third person singular, él or ella – he or she. This happens with all verbs and in all tenses. So from now on you will find the usted form in the verb tables listed together with the third person – he or she.

End transcript: Video 1

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Video 1

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1. verb stem

Definition:

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Answer

The verb stem is the part of the verb that is common to all verb forms, the part that is left when the endings are removed, e.g., habl-.

2. verb ending

Definition:

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Answer

The verb ending is the part of the verb added to the stem that designates the person and number (‘number’ means whether singular or plural), e.g. -o, -as, -a.

3. to conjugate

Definition:

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Answer

To conjugate a verb is to create the adequate verb form according to the person and number.

Language 2: Present tense of verbs ending in -ar

The majority of verbs in Spanish end in -ar, like hablar (‘to speak’). This group of verbs is called the first conjugation. There are also verbs that end in -er or -ir. These belong to the second and the third conjugations respectively.

To conjugate a verb in Spanish, you need to start with the infinitive. This is the form of the verb that you find in the lists of words in a dictionary. In English, the infinitive is preceded by ‘to’, for example ‘to speak’; in Spanish, the infinitive has a particular ending (-ar, -er or -ir).

Remove the -ar, -er or -ir ending from the infinitive. What is left is called the stem, which does not change in the vast majority of Spanish verbs. The stem serves as the base to which we add endings; there is a different ending for each person.

Here are the endings in the singular for all regular verbs ending in -ar.

HABL-AR
(yo)	hablo	Hablo japonés.	I speak Japanese.
(tú)	hablas	Hablas gallego.	You (informal) speak Galician.
(usted)	habla	Usted habla galés.	You (formal) speak Welsh.
(él/ella)	habla	Juan habla griego.	John speaks Greek.

You will have noticed that the verb form for usted (‘you-formal’) takes the same ending as the third person. This happens with all verbs and in all tenses. From now on you will find the usted form in the verb tables listed together with the third person (i.e. ‘he/she’).

2 Understanding professions

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

In this section you will learn how to say what you do for a living and how to conjugate the singular forms of the verbs ending in -ar, -er, and -ir in the present tense.

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This is a photo of a nursery teacher with three young children. They are painting.

In this activity you will practise your listening skills.

Paso A

You can use the regular verb trabajar (‘to work’) to ask and say what someone does for a living.

Trabajar follows the same pattern as hablar.

trabajar
(yo)	trabajo
(tú)	trabajas
(usted)	trabaja
(él/ella)	trabaja

Complete the questions below with the correct form of the verb.

1. ¿En qué _________ (trabajar, usted)?

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Answer

¿En qué trabaja?

2. ¿Trabajas o _________ (estudiar, tú)?

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Answer

¿Trabajas o estudias?

Paso B

ama de casa (housewife)

barrendero/a (road sweeper)

catedrático/a de universidad (university professor)

estudiante (student)

jubilado/a (retired person)

parado/a (unemployed)

pensionista (pensioner)

profesor/a de música (music teacher)

sacerdote (priest)

taxista (taxi driver)

The correct answers are a, b, c, d, f, h and i.

Language 3: Saying what you do for a living

To ask what someone does for a living, you can use the following expressions.

¿Cuál es tu profesión? (tú) / ¿Cuál es su profesión? (usted)
What’s your occupation?
¿En qué trabajas? (tú) / ¿En qué trabaja? (usted)
What do you do?
¿Estudias o trabajas? (tú) / Estudia o trabaja? (usted)
Are you studying or (are you) working? / Do you study or (do you) work?

To give information about what you do, where you work and for whom, you can use the following expressions.

ser + occupation
- Soy enfermero.
- I’m a nurse.
- Soy cajera.
- I’m a checkout assistant.

Note that in Spanish you don’t use the indefinite article un/una before the profession.

trabajar + en + place/institution
- Trabajo en una empresa de construcción.
- I work in/for a construction company.
- Trabajo en un parking.
- I work in a car park.
- Trabajo en el Instituto Cervantes.
- I work at the Cervantes Institute.

trabajar + para + person
- Trabajo para un dentista.
- I work for a dentist.
- Trabajo para una familia con tres niños.
- I work for a family with three children.

trabajar + desde + casa
- Trabajo desde casa.
- I work from home.

To explain what your occupation involves, you will often need a verb that describes the action, followed by a noun.

Soy barrendera. Barro la calle.
I’m a road sweeper. I sweep the street.
Soy camionero. Transporto fruta.
I’m a lorry driver. I transport fruit.
Soy repartidora de pizza. Reparto pizzas.
I’m a pizza delivery person. I deliver pizzas.

To say that you are not working, you can use the following expressions.

Estoy en paro. (Spain).
I’m unemployed.
Estoy parado/a. (Spain).
I’m unemployed.
Estoy desempleado/a. (LAm).
I’m unemployed.
Estoy / Soy jubilado/a.
I’m retired.
No trabajo.
I don’t work.

Paso C

Now practise talking about the professions you have learned in this activity. Listen to Audio 3 and respond according to the prompt. The last dialogue has been left open so that you can give your own information. (You can always make it up if you wish.)

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Audio 3

Audio 3

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Transcript: Audio 3

Listen and respond following the prompts.

Listen and respond, following the prompts.

—¿Estudias o trabajas?

(Say that you are a student.)

—Soy estudiante.

—¿Cuál es tu profesión?

(Say you are a teacher.)

—Soy profesora.

—¿En qué trabajas?

(Say you are retired.)

—Estoy jubilada.

—¿En qué trabajas?

(Say you work in a clinic.)

—Trabajo en una clínica.

—¿Cuál es tu profesión?

(Say you work for the University.)

—Trabajo para la Universidad.

—Y tú, ¿estudias o trabajas?

—¿Qué estudias? ¿En qué trabajas?

End transcript: Audio 3

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Audio 3

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Vocabulario

la clínica clinic, hospital

3 Saying what you do - practice

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

Can you see the name for ‘firefighters’ in mirror writing on the front of the fire engine? It is BOMBEROS.

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This is a photo of a fire engine on the street in a bright Mediterranean looking town.

Can you see the name for ‘firefighters’ in mirror writing on the front of the fire engine? It is BOMBEROS.

As well as saying what you do and where you work / who you work for, you might want to give some details about the activities that you carry out as part of your job. In this activity you will learn how to say a little about what a job entails.

Paso A

Write full sentences in the first person (yo) using ser and trabajar to state what your job is and where you work. Follow the example (ejemplo) below.

Ejemplo:

profesora / escuela
→ Soy profesora. Trabajo en una escuela.

Vocabulario

el/la dependiente shop assistant
la fábrica factory

1. camarero / cafetería

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Answer

Soy camarero. Trabajo en una cafetería.

2. gerente / banco

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Answer

Soy gerente. Trabajo en un banco.

3. dependiente / supermercado

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Answer

Soy dependiente. Trabajo en un supermercado.

4. psicóloga / clínica infantil

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Answer

Soy psicóloga. Trabajo en una clínica infantil.

5. administrativo / oficina

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Answer

Soy administrativo. Trabajo en una oficina.

6. electricista / fábrica

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Answer

Soy electricista. Trabajo en una fábrica.

Paso B

Now read out the sentences from Paso A aloud to practise the forms and then listen to Audio 4, which contains these sentences, and repeat again, trying to imitate the sound of the Spanish as closely as you can.

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Audio 4

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Transcript: Audio 4

Listen and repeat.

1. Soy camarero. Trabajo en una cafetería.

2. Soy gerente. Trabajo en un banco.

3. Soy dependiente. Trabajo en un supermercado.

4. Soy psicóloga. Trabajo en una clínica infantil.

5. Soy administrativo. Trabajo en una oficina.

6. Soy electricista. Trabajo en una fábrica.

End transcript: Audio 4

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Audio 4

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Soy camarero. Trabajo en una cafetería.
Soy gerente. Trabajo en un banco.
Soy dependiente. Trabajo en un supermercado.
Soy psicóloga. Trabajo en una clínica infantil.
Soy administrativo. Trabajo en una oficina.
Soy electricista. Trabajo en una fábrica.

Skills: Selecting vocabulary that is useful for you personally

You will come across many new words throughout the module. Some of them will appear very frequently and others maybe only once. Although most of the vocabulary presented in the module consists of words or expressions that are frequently used in Spanish or are useful for the topics covered, some words may be more useful to you personally than others. Once you have got past an initial level of words that are always going to be useful, you can think about prioritising learning the words or expressions that you think you will use more frequently in Spanish or those that you often use in your own language. For example, if you have a particular hobby, you will want to know words that allow you to talk about it in Spanish.

Paso C

Read the occupations listed below, then listen to Audio 5 and complete the sentences you hear with the speakers’ occupations from the following list. Not all of them appear in the recording. Use the appropriate gender (as said by the speaker).

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Audio 5

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Transcript: Audio 5

Listen, and complete the sentence with the word for the profession, as in the example.

Ejemplo:

Escribo novelas. Soy…

Escritora.

Now it’s your turn.

a. —Yo enseño matemáticas en un colegio. Soy…

… profesor.

b. —Canto en un grupo de rock. Soy…

… cantante.

c. —Vendo coches. Soy…

… vendedor.

d. —Cuido a mis hijos en casa. Soy…

… ama de casa.

e. —Transporto clientes en mi taxi. Soy…

… taxista.

End transcript: Audio 5

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Audio 5

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psicólogo/‑a • secretario/‑a • escritor/‑a • panadero/‑a • vendedor/‑a • profesor/‑a • taxista • artista • cantante • ama de casa

Paso D

Match each word in the first column with a word from the second and third columns, linking each occupation with a related activity, as in the example, and type it in the table. Try to guess the meaning of the words in each column or check them in the dictionary. At present you are working with just the vocabulary.

Ejemplo:

el barrendero barrer la calle

el barrendero	escribir	la página web
el pianista	entregar	libros
el repartidor	editar	el piano
el escritor	aprender	el vocabulario
el estudiante	barrer	pizzas
el diseñador gráfico	tocar	la calle

el barrendero	13, Your response 1	14, Your response 2
el pianista	15, Your response 3	16, Your response 4
el repartidor	17, Your response 5	18, Your response 6
el escritor	19, Your response 7	20, Your response 8
el estudiante	21, Your response 9	22, Your response 10
el diseñador gráfico	23, Your response 11	24, Your response 12

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Answer

Here is the table with the words in the right order.

el barrendero	barrer	la calle
el pianista	tocar	el piano
el repartidor	entregar	pizzas
el escritor	escribir	libros
el estudiante	aprender	el vocabulario
el diseñador gráfico	editar	la página web

4 Verbs for jobs

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

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This is a photo of a woman playing the piano. Only her hands, the keys and the sheet music can be seen.

In this activity you will learn more verbs you can use to describe jobs, so that you can say more about the activities you carry out.

Paso A

Now put the verbs from the previous activity into the correct form and write full sentences describing these occupations. Check the language note first if you need to.

Ejemplo:

El barrendero barre la calle.

el barrendero	barrer	la calle
el escritor	escribir	libros
el repartidor	entregar	pizzas
el estudiante	aprender	el vocabulario
el pianista	tocar	el piano
el diseñador gráfico	editar	la página web

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Answer

El barrendero barre la calle.
El escritor escribe libros.
El repartidor entrega pizzas.
El estudiante aprende el vocabulario.
El pianista toca el piano
El diseñador gráfico edita la página web.

Language 5: Present tense of verbs ending in ‑er and ‑ir

To form the present tense of verbs ending in ‑er and ‑ir, you need to do the same as you did with ‑ar verbs: remove the ‑er or ‑ir ending, then add the different endings for each person to the stem (the part that is left).

Here are the endings for the singular of the regular verbs aprender and vivir. Note that the endings in singular are the same for both.

Verbs are grouped into ‘conjugations’ according to their different types: ‑ar verbs belong to the first conjugation, verbs ending in ‑er belong to the second conjugation, and verbs ending in ‑ir belong to the third conjugation.

aprender
(yo)	aprendo	Aprendo japonés.	I learn Japanese.
(tú)	aprendes	Aprendes gallego.	You learn Galician.
(usted)	aprende	Aprende galés.	You learn Welsh.
(él/ella)	aprende	Aprende galés.	He/She learns Welsh.

vivir
(yo)	vivo	Vivo en San José.	I live in San José.
(tú)	vives	Vives en Managua.	You live in Managua.
(usted)	vive	Vive en Jaén.	You live in Jaén.
(él/ella)	vive	Vive en Jaén.	He/She lives in Jaén.

Paso B

Now look at your sentences from Paso A, change them into the feminine and read them out aloud. Use the feminine form of each profession. Then listen to Audio 6 below to check your answers.

1. El barrendero barre la calle.

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2. El escritor escribe libros.

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3. El repartidor entrega pizzas.

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4. El estudiante aprende el vocabulario.

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5. El pianista toca el piano

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6. El diseñador gráfico edita la página web.

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Audio 6

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Transcript: Audio 6

Listen to these sentences.

1. La barrendera barre la calle.

2. La escritora escribe libros.

3. La repartidora entrega pizzas.

4. La estudiante aprende el vocabulario.

5. La pianista toca el piano

6. La diseñadora gráfica edita la página web.

End transcript: Audio 6

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Audio 6

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Paso C

Write the correct forms of the verb vivir in each dialogue.

1. ¿Dónde _______ usted?

(yo) _______ en Londres.

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Answer

¿Dónde vive usted?

(yo) Vivo en Londres.

2. ¿Tú _______ en Inglaterra, no?

No, (yo) _______ en Escocia.

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Answer

¿Tú vives en Inglaterra, no?

No, (yo) vivo en Escocia.

3. Alberto _______ en Barcelona.

No, Alberto _______ en Alicante.

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Answer

Alberto vive en Barcelona.

No, Alberto vive en Alicante.

Paso D

Listen to Audio 7 and decide whether you hear the first person (yo) or third person (él/ella/usted) of the verbs.

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Audio 7

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Transcript: Audio 7

Decide whether you hear the first person (yo) or third person (él/ella/usted) of the following verbs.

1. vive

2. escribo

3. barre

4. abro

5. aprende

6. escribe

7. vivo

End transcript: Audio 7

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Audio 7

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él/ella/usted

The correct answer is a.

él/ella/usted

The correct answer is b.

él/ella/usted

The correct answer is a.

él/ella/usted

The correct answer is b.

él/ella/usted

The correct answer is a.

él/ella/usted

The correct answer is a.

él/ella/usted

The correct answer is b.

Paso E

The pronunciation of word-final e in Spanish is very different from that in English (where it is often not pronounced at all or is pronounced long). Now focus on this sound only. Make sure you pronounce it clearly but at the same time make it short.

Listen to Audio 8 and repeat.

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Audio 8

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Transcript: Audio 8

Repeat the following words paying special attention to the final [e] sound.

1. estudiante

2. aprende

3. vive

4. calle

5. dirige

6. abre

7. barre

8. cantante

9. de

10. donde

End transcript: Audio 8

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Audio 8

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5 En chiva or en guagua. Regional variations in vocabulary

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

Bolombolo, Colombia: traditional rural bus called chiva

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Colourful traditional rural bus with wooden luggage rack on the roof.

Bolombolo, Colombia: traditional rural bus called chiva

There are several different words for ‘bus’ used by speakers of Spanish from different countries: for example, autobús and colectivo. This is called regional variations in vocabulary. Here you will learn more about these variations.

Paso A

Read the text and, using the information about regional variations in words, fill in the gaps in the sentences with one of these choices:

autobús • camión • colectivo • guagua • micro • ómnibus

Ejemplo:

En Cuba, Ricardo va al trabajo en guagua.

As with American and British English, you may find that the same thing is referred to by different words in different places. Usually these do not create great communication problems, though sometimes they may be the source of humorous confusions. For example, in Spain the word saco means ‘sack’, but in many Latin American countries it is also the most a common word for ‘jacket’. When you use your dictionary, you will find that regional variations are often given.

Transport is a subject in which terms certainly vary between places. For example, a bus is el autobús in Spain, la micro in Chile, el colectivo in Argentina and Venezuela, el ómnibus in Uruguay, la guagua in Cuba and the Canary Islands and el camión in México. However, whichever word you use, you will probably be understood in most places.

1. En Chile, Saulo va a la universidad en _____ .

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

En Chile, Saulo va a la universidad en micro.

2. En Argentina, Pedro va a la biblioteca en _______ .

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

En Argentina, Pedro va a la biblioteca en colectivo.

3. En España, Juan va al trabajo en ________ .

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

En España, Juan va al trabajo en autobús.

Paso B

Look up the following words in the dictionary and list them in the table according to where they are used. (Some have more than one meaning; for this step, choose the meaning that refers to transport.)

la taquilla • la parada • el carro • el paradero • el coche • la boletería • el auto

	España	Chile
bus	el autobús	la micro
ticket office	25, Your response 1	26, Your response 2
car	27, Your response 3	28, Your response 4
bus stop	29, Your response 5	30, Your response 6

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

	España	Chile
bus	el autobús	la micro
ticket office	la taquilla	la boletería
car	el coche	el carro, el auto
bus stop	la parada	el paradero

Bear in mind that some of these terms may be used in several countries or regions.

6 Using your dictionary

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

There are many uses you can make of a dictionary. In this activity you will learn how to look up words you don’t understand, and how to find an appropriate translation, examples of the usage of words, and pronunciation.

Please note: Access to the Open University library is not available to non-OU registered students. You can however access the Collins dictionary.

Paso A

Watch Video 2 and decide whether the following statements are true or false.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2

Video 2

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Video 2

Dictionaries are very useful tools for language learners. In this short screencast you will be acquainted with some of the information you can find in a dictionary.

There are 2 main types of dictionaries – monolingual and bilingual dictionaries.

Monolingual dictionaries explain the meanings of the words in the same language. That is a monolingual Spanish dictionary explains the possible meanings of a word or expression in Spanish.

At this point in your studies, you are more likely to use a bilingual dictionary. A bilingual dictionary translates words and expressions from one language to another, for example from Spanish to English or the other way round.

Nowadays most dictionaries we use are online dictionaries. You might be familiar with, for instance, the Collins online dictionary, or WordReference. Both are monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. The Cambridge, the Oxford, the Merriam-Webster dictionaries are also widely used.

In the OU library you can find useful dictionary and encyclopaedia resources to help you with your language learning. Let us look at it now.

Go to the Open University Library webpage and there choose the Library Resources. On the right hand side you can see ‘Dictionaries’ – click on that and scroll a bit down. You can see, for example, the Oxford dictionaries here. Click on that. Choose your language – in this case we will choose Spanish and we will see, for example, Spanish to English.

Let’s look at the word café.

If you search the word café you will see that it has 2 entries. Let’s look at it.

The first one says it’s an adjective. It says ‘usually invariable’. Invariable means it has only 1 form for both masculine and feminine. In this case we can see that it has 2 meanings, this adjective, invariable adjective: marrónclaro whichis coffee before a noun, but an adjective, like coffee coloured, for example: Vestido marrón or vestidocafé – coffee coloured dress. Or it simply means brown. Ojos café means someone has brown eyes. This was one entry.

The other entry is a masculine noun which also has 2 basic meanings. One meaning:

cultivo, bebida – this is a drink, simply a coffee

And you can see that you find also examples:

me sirvió un café – he gave me a coffee

And the other meaning is café, like a cafeteria, you know the place where you can drink a coffee, for example.

Now let’s go to WordReference and let’s check the same word, café, in WordReference.

So our word is café and we will look it up in the Spanish-English dictionary. As you can see there are many options, bilingual and as well as monolingual options. For example, Spanish definition is basically a monolingual dictionary.

So, let’s look at café and what we can see is that it has 2 entries again, not surprisingly. You can also see that WordReference shows the morphological category or categories of the word in abbreviated form. So here we can see ‘nm’ – ‘n’ standing for noun, and ‘m’ is masculine, so nombre masculine – it’s a masculine noun. Or it can be an adjective, just as in the previous dictionary obviously.

If you had here an ‘fm’ it would be a feminine noun, nf nombre feminine.

OK, so what are the meanings? The noun is:

bebida preparada por infusión – in English coffee

and here again you can see examples:

¿Te gusta el café negro o con leche? – do you like your coffee black or with cream?, for example.

And you can also see there is an adjective which means marrón, brown or coffee-coloured.

Here you also have some information of the geographical distribution of the uses of these words, in the sense of brown, it’s normally used in Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay etc.

You can also find information about inflexiones different forms of the word. So here can you say masculine plural is cafés. So you can see that the plural of the word is cafés.

To choose the right translation you should be able to identify the context of the word in the situation you want to use it. For example, it could be difficult to know what the meaning of café is without the context. So it can have obviously various meanings. So to choose the right one you might need to see examples of usage which dictionaries normally give or present.

WordReference also includes information on how a word or an expression is pronounced. There are 3 different varieties in the case of Spanish – you can choose the variety spoken in Mexico and Central America, Spain, and Argentina and Uruguay area.

And you can also choose the playback rate so you can play the word in a normal speed or a bit slower or very slowly. So if you click on Escuchar you can listen to the word you looked for.

Also a very useful feature of WordReference is that you can have different expressions with the word café americano, café con leche. You know like Americano, or coffee with milk etc.

And in some cases you can also have forums so it shows you forum discussions where users exchange information about different words or different queries to each other. And it shows you all the forum entries where the word café appeared.

Students sometime confuse an online dictionary with a web-based translation tool.

As for the differences between web-based translation tools and dictionaries, the following should be noted.

A dictionary contains all the different possible meanings of a term, while a web-based translation tool chooses only one of these.

The context is a key factor in translation – the linguistic context and the cultural knowledge of both the source and target languages must always be considered.

You might want to use machine translation to check your work but be careful – they do make mistakes!

End transcript: Video 2

Download

Video 2

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True

False

The correct answer is a.

True

False

The correct answer is a.

Many larger dictionaries have full sentences as examples. Many examples, however, consist of phrases/incomplete sentences.

True

False

The correct answer is a.

Paso B

Look up plaza and ¡Hasta luego! in the dictionary and complete the columns with the relevant information. The first one, café, has been done for you as an example of what to do.

	café	plaza	¡Hasta luego!
Translation(s) of each sense/meaning	1. coffee 2. café or cafetería	31, Your response 1	32, Your response 2
Examples and related expressions	un café con leche a white coffee un café solo a black coffee	33, Your response 3	34, Your response 4
Other information	SUSTANTIVO, el → masculine noun Plural: los cafés	35, Your response 5	36, Your response 6

café

plaza

¡Hasta luego!

Translation(s) of each sense/meaning

1. coffee

2. café or cafetería

Examples and related expressions

un café con leche a white coffee

un café solo a black coffee

Other information

SUSTANTIVO, el → masculine noun

Plural: los cafés

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

	*café*	*plaza*	*¡Hasta luego!*
Translation(s) of each sense/meaning	1. coffee 2. café or cafetería	1. square 2. market place 3. job, post 4. (parking) place	See you!
Examples and related expressions	un café con leche a white coffee un café solo a black coffee	la plaza mayor the main square una plaza de toros a bullring	¡Hasta el viernes! See you on Friday!
Other information	SUSTANTIVO, el → masculine noun Plural: los cafés	SUSTANTIVO, la → feminine noun	Could be found under both headwords: hasta and luego.

café

plaza

¡Hasta luego!

Translation(s) of each sense/meaning

1. coffee

2. café or cafetería

1. square

2. market place

3. job, post

4. (parking) place

See you!

Examples and related expressions

un café con leche a white coffee

un café solo a black coffee

la plaza mayor the main square

una plaza de toros a bullring

¡Hasta el viernes! See you on Friday!

Other information

SUSTANTIVO, el → masculine noun

Plural: los cafés

SUSTANTIVO, la → feminine noun

Could be found under both headwords: hasta and luego.

7 Quiz

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

Question 1

Write the correct form of the verb trabajar’to complete the sentence: trabajas – trabaja – trabajo

Roberto works in an office.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

Roberto trabaja en una oficina.

Question 2

Choose the correct form of the verb trabajar to complete the sentence: trabajas – trabaja – trabajo

I don't work, but Mercedes works at the University of Salamanca.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

trabajas – trabaja – trabajo; trabajas – trabaja – trabajo

Yo no trabajo, pero Mercedes trabaja en la Universidad de Salamanca.

a) Soy jubilada

b) Trabajo de dentista

c) Soy estudiante

The correct answer is c.

True

False

The correct answer is b.

True

False

The correct answer is a.

a) Es dentista

b) En un supermercado

c) No estoy jubilada

The correct answer is b.

¿Cómo te llamas?

¿De dónde es usted?

c) ¿En qué trabajas?

The correct answer is c.

a) trabajo

b) barro

c) vivo

The correct answer is b.

Question 9

Complete the following sentence with the appropriate verb.

Soy estudiante y …a la escuela en autobús.

trabajo – voy – vivo

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

Soy estudiante y voy a la escuela en autobús.

guagua

tren

autobús

micro

tranvía

colectivo

omnibús

camión

The correct answers are b and e.

Question 11

Complete the following sentence with the appropriate conjugation on the verbs in the ‘yo’ form.

(Ser)… médico y (trabajar)…en un hospital. (Ir)…al trabajo en coche.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Answer

Soy médico y trabajo en un hospital. Voy al trabajo en coche.

Conclusion

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

We hope you enjoyed this short taster course. You should now have some understanding about the present tense verb forms in Spanish and how to say what you do for a living. Now that you have learned about the richness of regional expressions, you may wish to progress your learning further by following The Open University’s beginners’ Spanish module (30 credits): L106: Introduction to Spanish studies (beginners).

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:33:00 GMT

This free course was written by the L106 course team.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Course image: Radub85 | Dreamstime

Section 1 Professions

Mónica Ojeda, escritora: image: Rodrigo Fernández / Wikipedia. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B3nica_Ojeda
Claudia Llosa, directora: image: Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en (CC BY 2.0) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Llosa
Eduardo Galeano, escritor: image: DONOSTIA KULTURA / Flickr. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Section 2 Understanding professions: image: FatCamera / Getty Images Plus

Section 3 Saying what you do - practice: image: Fortgens Photography / iStock

Section 4 Verbs for jobs: image: lechatnoir / Getty Images

Section 5 En chiva or en guagua. Regional variations in vocabulary: image: anamejia18 / iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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Introduction

1 Professions

Paso A

Transcript: Audio 1

Paso B

Answer

Paso C

Answer

Language 1: Gender of professions

Transcript: Video 1

Answer

Answer

Answer

Language 2: Present tense of verbs ending in -ar

2 Understanding professions

Paso A

Answer

Answer

Paso B

Question 1a

Transcript: Audio 2

Language 3: Saying what you do for a living

Paso C

Transcript: Audio 3

Vocabulario

3 Saying what you do - practice

Paso A

Ejemplo:

Vocabulario

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Answer

Paso B

Transcript: Audio 4

Skills: Selecting vocabulary that is useful for you personally

Paso C

Transcript: Audio 5

Paso D

Ejemplo:

Answer

4 Verbs for jobs

Paso A

Ejemplo:

Answer

Language 5: Present tense of verbs ending in ‑er and ‑ir

Paso B

Transcript: Audio 6

Paso C

Answer

Answer

Answer

Paso D

Transcript: Audio 7

Question 1a

Question 1b

Question 1c

Question 1d

Question 1e

Question 1f

Question 1g

Paso E

Transcript: Audio 8

5 En chiva or en guagua. Regional variations in vocabulary

Paso A

Ejemplo:

Answer

Answer

Answer

Paso B

Answer

6 Using your dictionary

Paso A

Transcript: Video 2

Question 1a

Question 1b

Question 1c