“What do you do?” in Portuguese

October 3, 2013

Learn how to ask “what do you do?” in Portuguese?

What’s up, guys? Ready to learn Portuguese online?
We already know about professions in Portuguese, but do you know how to ask for someone’s profession?

One of the most common ways to ask for someone’s profession is o que você faz meaning literally “what do you do?”.

O que você faz?

Nevertheless, these three expressions are also good options:

And what about the answer? Here are two things to keep in mind when saying what you do in Portuguese:

We use the verb Ser (not estar) to say what our profession is.
We do not use an article in front of the profession like we do in English when we say what we do.

Examples

O que ele faz?
What does he do?

Ele é professor na Rio&Learn. Ele dá aulas privadas de português.
He is a teacher at Rio&Learn. He gives private Portuguese classes.

O que ela faz?
What does she do?

Ela é jornalista na Globo.
She’s a journalist at Globo.

Em que você trabalha?
What do you do?

Sou mecânico, conserto carros.
I am a mechanic, I fix cars.

Qual é o seu trabalho?
What do you do?

Sou sapateiro, conserto sapatos.
I am a shoemaker, I fix shoes.

Qual é o trabalho da sua mãe?
What does your mother do?

Minha mãe é cabeleireira. Ela corta cabelos.
My mother is a hairdresser. She cuts hair.

Qual é o trabalho delas?
What do they do?

Elas são cozinheiras baianas e cozinham muito bem.
They are cooks from Bahia and they cook very well.

Em que área você trabalha?
What do you do?

Sou bombeiro, apago o incêndio.
I’m a fireman , I put out the fire.

Qual é o trabalho dele?
What does he do?

Ele é pedreiro, constrói casas muito bonitas.
He’s a bricklayer, he builds very beautiful houses.

Em que área ele trabalha?
What does he do?

Ele é carpinteiro, faz ótimas cadeiras de madeira.
He’s a carpenter, he makes great wood chairs.

And you? What do you do in your country? And what do you do in Brazil?

That’s it, guys! Want to see more Dicas?

Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
Professions in Portuguese
Verbs ending in -ar in Present
Regular verbs in -ER

This post is also available in: English Português (Portuguese) Español (Spanish)

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Had an incident with a holiday. I selected Monday and Wednesday for my classes, since I can’t attend classes on other days. Due to holiday one of the lessons was scheduled on Friday. I warned about this issue on Tuesday, 3 days before the lesson, but manager answered in a rude way that they can’t do anything and blamed me that this is my fault I didn’t warn earlier. Teacher is asking their students to give good grades to the course on a second lesson. This is not teachers fault. Probably managers ask her to do this. Maybe my grade will change. Only time will show. At the moment as is.

Mykola Kurenkov

2023-05-11

Estudar portugués online com a escola Río & learn é muito gratificante pra mim, pois as professoras são amorosas. As aulas são engraçadas, com muita prática falando português brasileiro. Também eu posso conhecer pessoas de outros países e outras culturas. Eu sinto que moro no Brasil quando eu estou em aula!!

YESEA RARU

2023-05-10

Raccomando tantissimo! Ho fatto lezioni private e il mio portoghese migliora a vista d'occhio. Fluente in 4 mesi grazie a questa scuola <3

Giulia Benzi

2023-05-10

I took a one week in-person course and had an amazing experience. It was intensive and definitely highly recommended! I appreciate the great, caring and highly professional team : Diogo for your awesome and energetic lectures and dedication. The lessons outside the classroom were very engaging and a useful way to immerse into local life. Thanks Laise, Marta and Dayane for the great support and smooth coordination. I look forward to taking the online sessions next!

Cheryl Loh

2023-05-01

I joined the online classes 1 month ago and I am loving the experience. Shout-out to Professora's Dani & Nathalia,they're amazing! The classes are interesting,focused and the teachers are very patient. They also do extra online activities outside the class schedule to really boost your learning in a fun, engaging environment. My speaking proficiency is improving faster than ever before compared to other classes I tried with other schools. The staff are very organised, communicate well and I think the cost is excellant value for money. Vamos lá!

Natasha Deegan

2023-04-29

Followed one week of group classes in Rio de Janeiro, I had no prior experience with Portuguese. The classes were really good, fun even (we laughed a lot) and the material is very well chosen. The after activities (Rio Live) as well were so fun and the teachers (Diogo) always made you feel comfortable and had a lot of patience. We even went for lunch together to learn about this subject. I really loved this way of teaching. I feel like I have a good base of the language and I can understand so much more now.

Lena

2023-04-20

I have taken online courses twice now with Rio & Learn. In both group and private lessons the instruction was excellent. Classes were well-planned and the instructors were responsive and engaging. If I ever have the chance I will definitely sign up for their in person classes.

Heather Minielly

2023-04-18

Ich war vor 4 Jahren dort und habe dort die Basics in Portugiesisch gelernt. Sehr praxisnaher Unterricht mit vielen Aktivitäten und Spaß. Mir gefällt dieser spielerische Ansatz sehr und ich konnte einiges lernen. Absolute Empfehlung!

Lars Altmar

2023-03-29

This is the best language school ever. I spent one month, started with no portguese whatsoever, and now I can hold basic conversations and understand most of what people are saying. My progress was pretty amazing thanks to all the teachers who are AMAZING. I can't stress enough how nice, helpful and fun they are. In addition to classes in the mornings, the school offers different kinds of activities every afternoon outside the school. It's great to practice portuguese outside and also discover some great places in Rio as well as many different kind of fun activities. I made great friends there and had so many good laughs. Often the teachers also take you out of the classroom for the entire class or half of it to make it more entertaining. I truly recommend this school that was way more than a school for me. Thanks to everyone there, especially Diogo, Lais and Guliana for everything.

tessie cranman

2023-03-27

Rio & Learn is a great space to learn Portuguese. The amazing teachers and support staff create a wonderful and intimate environment to learn, through a varied set of mediums: class lectures, out and about lesson around copacabana, post-school activities as well as a range of 121 teaching options. I highly recommend this school!!!

londontoberlin

2023-03-22