Job nouns agree with the person, not the job
Job nouns take the gender of the person, not a fixed gender for the profession. Learn both forms: el profesor / la profesora, el enfermero / la enfermera, el médico / la médica (irregular). The -ista and -e nouns are invariant — only the article changes: el/la dentista. After ser + profession no article is used (Marta es profesora), but a specific reference needs one (la profesora de Marta). Full table in the note.
Fixed phrases: applying and part-time work
Learn the fixed phrases in groups. Applying: solicitar un puesto, la entrevista, las cualidades (qualities, not asignaturas). Part-time work: un trabajo a tiempo parcial, ganar dinero (earn, not gastar), el sueldo. A job you would like: me gustaría ser..., en el futuro seré... — future or conditional, not the present. Qualities (agreeing adjectives): trabajador/a, paciente, organizado/a. Full lists in the note.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Job noun stuck in dictionary form
Job nouns must match the person's own gender, not the form first learnt (usually masculine):
Same agreement rule as adjectives, applied to nouns; leaving every job in its dictionary form costs Accuracy marks.
Gender & number agreement, a top Writing error every sitting (w23 P41 Q2 Task 3; s23 P41 Task 1).
-ista / -e job nouns never change
Not every job noun swaps -o/-a. The -ista and -e nouns are invariant: el/la dentista, el/la periodista, el/la gerente. Only the article — and any adjective — shows gender: una buena dentista (feminine), un buen dentista (masculine), but never dentisto. Inventing a masculine -o form for an invariant noun is the classic error.
(general FL trap)
cualidades ≠ asignaturas
Cualidades (personal qualities) and asignaturas (school subjects) are unrelated words some candidates confuse, because both can follow "what do you need for this job?":
A "qualities" task wants personality adjectives, not a subject list.
Area D: cualidades misread as asignaturas; listing current subjects not those needed for a future job (s22 topic 4 Task 4).
por vs para for working hours
Use por for a duration and para for a purpose:
Flagged on the por/para checklist every sitting; the parallel duermo por 8 horas was wrongly written with para by most candidates.
por/para checklist, every sitting; Writing Q2 duermo por 8 horas wrongly used para (s23 P42 Task 4).
ganar (earn) vs gastar (spend)
ganar = to earn/win; gastar = to spend — opposite directions of money, frequently swapped:
When a question asks how much you earn from a job, the verb is ganar. Reserve gastar for what you spend the money on.
ganar confused with gastar (s23 RP6 Q4 Speaking).
Present tense for a future career plan
When a task asks what job you would like or will do in the future, the present tense loses Task Completion marks — it reads as a current fact, not a plan.
The rubric word (me gustaría, en el futuro) signals the tense required.
Future/conditional plans need genuine future/conditional verbs (s23 P41 Q2 Task 5).
Not every job noun swaps -o for -a
A common false belief is that all job nouns follow the -o/-a pattern, so learners invent forms for invariant nouns: el/la dentista never changes spelling — only the article does — dentisto does not exist. A related slip treats cualidades (qualities) and asignaturas (subjects) as interchangeable, giving an answer of the wrong category.
Area D: cualidades misread as asignaturas (s22 topic 4).
por for hours, ganar for earnings
When you describe part-time work, lock in two precision points: use por for the duration you work (trabajo por tres horas) and ganar — never gastar — for what you earn (gano quince euros). Both are examiner-marked, so they are cheap Accuracy marks to protect.
Match the tense to the rubric word
Words like en el futuro or me gustaría signal a future or conditional, never the present. Copying the present tense into a future-plans bullet is a common reason Task Completion marks are lost — switch tense when the rubric changes timeframe.
Build the answer in layers
Build the answer in three layers: (1) name the job with the correct gender (la profesora, el/la dentista); (2) give the qualities as agreeing adjectives, not school subjects; (3) end with a future ambition in a future or conditional form.
This topic covers jobs and professions vocabulary (with correct gender), applying for a job, part-time work, and talking about career plans.
Common jobs, masculine / feminine:
| Job | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| teacher | el profesor | la profesora |
| doctor | el médico | la médica |
| nurse | el enfermero | la enfermera |
| lawyer | el abogado | la abogada |
| waiter/waitress | el camarero | la camarera |
| engineer | el ingeniero | la ingeniera |
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