In this lesson, you are going to learn how to ask what someone 's job is in natural English.

Of course, you can just say, " What is your job?"

This is correct English, but it sounds too direct and awkward.

Native English speakers almost never say this in a social situation.

Instead, they use a different question.

But before we master that, we need to compare it to a very similar question.

What are you doing? – I 'm presenting a video about English.

What do you do? – I'm an English teacher.

Do you see the difference?

These two questions, " What are you doing?" and, " What do you do?" sound similar, but mean different things.

The first one is asking what you are doing right now, this minute.

You answer it using an - ing verb.

What are you doing? – I 'm reading. I 'm watching TV.

While the second is actually a shortened version of, " What do you do for a living?"

This is how we ask " What is your job?" in natural English.

Let's practice this question.

What do you do?

What do you do?

When native speakers of English ask this question, it can come out very fast, and sound more like, " Whadd'yado?"

In order to tell it apart from " What are you doing?", just listen for the " - ing " sound on the end of the question.

If it's not there, then you 're being asked what your job is!

So how would you answer this question?

Just think of it as if the other person is asking you, " What is your job?"

You could answer with " I am ", plus your job.

I'm a teacher.

I'm a teacher.

Or, " I'm an engineer."