Work in French: Job Vocabulary, Questions and Phrases

---

When you meet someone through work, they may ask what you do. In an informal conversation, you might hear “Dis-moi, qu’est-ce que tu fais dans la vie ?” (“So, what do you do for a living?”).

I work in the music industry, and I run into French speakers surprisingly often. I meet people through saxophone manufacturers, reed makers and audio companies, including companies based in France. That has given me plenty of practice talking about my work in French.

In this guide, I’ll help you build the same skill. You’ll learn the difference between words such as travail, emploi and métier, ask and answer work questions, and practise a four-line introduction you can adapt to a real conversation.

Editor's note: Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online French course, here’s the course we recommend: French Uncovered – Learn French Through the Power of Story, a course with a fascinating new method by Olly Richards. You can try it for free for 7 days!

The Many Ways to Talk About Work in French

English uses “work” and “job” in several ways, and French does too. These are not interchangeable labels. Learn each one inside a complete idea:

• le travail (work): J’ai beaucoup de travail aujourd’hui. (“I have a lot of work today.”)
• un emploi (a job; employment): Je cherche un emploi. (“I’m looking for a job.”)
• un poste (a position): Elle a accepté un nouveau poste. (“She accepted a new position.”)
• un métier (a trade, profession or occupation): C’est un métier exigeant. (“It’s a demanding occupation.”)
• une profession (a profession): Quelle est votre profession ? (“What is your profession?”)
• une carrière (a career): Il commence sa carrière. (“He’s beginning his career.”)
• une vocation (a calling): Pour elle, enseigner est une vocation. (“For her, teaching is a calling.”)
• un boulot (a job or work; informal): J’ai trouvé un nouveau boulot. (“I found a new job.”)
• le taf (work; very informal slang): Je retourne au taf. (“I’m going back to work.”)
• une offre d’emploi (a job opening or listing): J’ai répondu à une offre d’emploi. (“I applied in response to a job listing.”)
• un stage en entreprise (an internship or work placement): Elle fait un stage en entreprise. (“She’s doing a work placement.”)

For the action, travailler is the neutral verb “to work”. Bosser is informal. Gérer means “to manage” or “to handle”, not simply “to work”.

• Je travaille dans l’industrie musicale. (“I work in the music industry.”)
• On bosse ensemble. (“We work together.” Informal.)
• Je gère ce projet. (“I manage this project.”)
• Elle travaille dur. (“She works hard.”)
• Il travaille beaucoup. (“He works a lot.”)
• Nous travaillons bien ensemble. (“We work well together.”)
• Il bosse comme un âne. (“He works very hard.” Informal.)

If you want a broader vocabulary foundation, this guide to useful French words will help you build beyond workplace language.

French Work Questions and Answers

Choose tu or vous before you start. Tu is informal and singular. Vous is formal singular, or plural in either formal or informal contexts. With a new professional contact, vous is a practical default until the other person suggests tu, although workplace customs vary.

Here are natural questions in the vous register:

• Que faites-vous dans la vie ? (“What do you do for a living?”)
• Dans quel domaine travaillez-vous ? (“What field do you work in?”)
• Vous travaillez dans quel domaine ? (“What field do you work in?” More conversational word order.)
• Quelle est votre profession ? (“What is your profession?”)
• Quel est votre métier ? (“What is your occupation?”)
• Depuis combien de temps travaillez-vous comme… ? (“How long have you worked as a…?”)

With a friend or colleague who uses tu, you can ask:

• Qu’est-ce que tu fais dans la vie ? (“What do you do for a living?”)
• Dans quel domaine travailles-tu ? (“What field do you work in?”)
• Tu travailles dans quoi ? (“What field do you work in?” Informal.)
• Tu bosses dans quoi ? (“What line of work are you in?” Informal.)
• C’est quoi ton boulot ? (“What’s your job?” Very informal.)
• Depuis combien de temps travailles-tu comme… ? (“How long have you worked as a…?”)

A useful answer has four parts: your role, your field or workplace, one responsibility or group you work with, and what you are doing now. Here is an example for a musician who works with instrument and audio-equipment manufacturers:

1. Je suis musicienne. (“I’m a musician.”)
2. Je travaille dans l’industrie musicale. (“I work in the music industry.”)
3. Je travaille avec des fabricants de saxophones et de matériel audio. (“I work with saxophone and audio-equipment manufacturers.”)
4. En ce moment, je travaille sur un nouveau projet. (“At the moment, I’m working on a new project.”)

You can swap the third line for Je m’occupe de… (“I take care of…”) or Je suis responsable de… (“I’m responsible for…”). Use Je travaille pour [organisation] for an employer, Je travaille chez [name] for a named organisation, and Je travaille à [place] for a location.

After your answer, match the register: Et vous ? or Et toi ?. A complete question-and-answer pair is more useful than a disconnected phrase. Our guide to French conversation has more ways to keep an exchange moving.

Job Titles in French

Many French job titles have masculine and feminine forms. Use the form a person uses for themselves. Usage varies by region and organisation, and some contexts use inclusive or gender-neutral wording.

After être, a simple statement of occupation normally has no article: Je suis musicienne, not Je suis une musicienne. The article returns in other structures, such as C’est une musicienne talentueuse (“She’s a talented musician”).

Creative Fields

• acteur/actrice (actor)
• comédien/comédienne (actor; stage or screen)
• humoriste (comedian)
• artiste (artist)
• blogueur/blogueuse (blogger)
• chanteur/chanteuse (singer)
• charpentier/charpentière (carpenter)
• coiffeur/coiffeuse (hairdresser)
• couturier/couturière (dressmaker or fashion designer)
• dessinateur/dessinatrice (illustrator or cartoonist)
• écrivain/écrivaine (writer)
• musicien/musicienne (musician)
• peintre (painter)
• producteur/productrice (producer)
• réalisateur/réalisatrice (filmmaker or film director)

Medical and Health

• dentiste (dentist)
• infirmier/infirmière (nurse)
• médecin (doctor; un médecin or une médecin)
• psychologue (psychologist)

You will also encounter docteur and feminine forms such as docteure, with usage varying by region and institution. For a general learner model, médecin is dependable.

Education

• enseignant/enseignante (teacher or educator)
• professeur/professeure (teacher; especially in secondary school or university)
• professeur/professeure des écoles (primary-school teacher in France)
• instituteur/institutrice (traditional term for a primary-school teacher)
• tuteur/tutrice (tutor or mentor)
• vacataire (a person hired and paid for specific teaching or other assignments; the exact status depends on the institution)

Food

• boulanger/boulangère (baker)
• brasseur/brasseuse (brewer)
• boucher/bouchère (butcher)
• charcutier/charcutière (charcuterie maker or seller)
• pâtissier/pâtissière (pastry chef)
• serveur/serveuse (server or waiter/waitress)

Business and Other Fields

• courtier/courtière en valeurs mobilières (securities broker)
• agent immobilier/agente immobilière (estate agent)
• architecte (architect)
• avocat/avocate (lawyer)
• caissier/caissière (cashier)
• diplomate (diplomat)
• directeur/directrice (director)
• entrepreneur/entrepreneuse (entrepreneur in France); entrepreneur/entrepreneure is common in Canada
• expert-comptable/experte-comptable (chartered accountant)
• fonctionnaire (civil servant)
• gérant/gérante (manager)
• homme d’affaires/femme d’affaires (businessperson)
• ingénieur/ingénieure (engineer)
• mécanicien/mécanicienne (mechanic)
• ouvrier/ouvrière (labourer or manual worker)
• plombier/plombière (plumber)
• homme politique/femme politique (politician)
• pompier/pompière (firefighter)
• physicien/physicienne (physicist)
• travailleur/travailleuse (worker)

Useful French for Updates and Boundaries at Work

If you work abroad, you need more than ways to agree with a manager. You also need clear updates, questions about priorities, and language for realistic boundaries. These examples use vous, the formal register:

• Oui, je m’en occupe tout de suite. (“Yes, I’ll take care of it right away.”)
• Je l’ai déjà fait. (“I’ve already done it.”)
• J’ai terminé le rapport. (“I’ve finished the report.”)
• Je pense que c’est une bonne idée. (“I think that’s a good idea.”)
• Je vous l’enverrai avant vendredi. (“I’ll send it to you before Friday.”)
• Voici le résumé du rapport. (“Here’s the report summary.”)
• Pouvez-vous préciser la priorité ? (“Can you clarify the priority?”)
• J’aurais besoin de plus de temps. (“I would need more time.”)
• Je ne pourrai pas le terminer avant lundi. (“I won’t be able to finish it before Monday.”)
• Je vais vérifier mes disponibilités avant de vous répondre. (“I’ll check my availability before getting back to you.”)
• Je ne suis pas disponible samedi. (“I’m not available on Saturday.”)
• Je peux rester jusqu’à 18 heures. (“I can stay until 18:00.”)
• Je déjeune avec un client. (“I’m having lunch with a client.”)
• J’ai un déjeuner de travail. (“I have a business lunch.”)

These are models, not promises you have to make. Replace the time, date and task with what is true for you.

More French Work Vocabulary

Now you can group the rest of the vocabulary by the job it does in a conversation. That makes each word easier to retrieve when you need it.

The People You Work With

• l’acheteur/l’acheteuse (buyer)
• l’associé/l’associée (partner or associate)
• le/la collègue (colleague)
• le client/la cliente (client)
• le concurrent/la concurrente (competitor)
• le vendeur/la vendeuse (seller or salesperson)
• le/la chef (manager or boss)
• le patron/la patronne (boss; informal)

Workplace Conversation

• une pause-café (a coffee break)
• une rumeur (a rumour)
• les potins (gossip; informal)
• On fait une pause-café ? (“Shall we take a coffee break?” Informal.)
• Comment s’est passée la réunion ? (“How did the meeting go?”)

Colleagues may use plenty of informal vocabulary. This guide to French slang can help you recognise it, but match the tone of the people and setting rather than forcing it into a formal exchange.

Workplaces and Organisations

• le bureau (office or desk)
• le lieu de travail (workplace)
• l’entreprise (company or business)
• la société (company)
• la boîte (company; informal)
• le télétravail (remote working)

For example, Je travaille au bureau le mardi, mais je suis en télétravail le vendredi. means “I work at the office on Tuesday, but I work remotely on Friday.”

How to Say “Good Job” in French

• Bravo ! (“Well done!”)
• Beau travail ! (“Nice work!”)
• Très bon travail ! (“Very good work!”)
• Félicitations ! (“Congratulations!”)

Bon travail ! can also be understood as praise, but the expressions above give you clearer starting points in most contexts.

Pay, Leave and Training

• une augmentation de salaire (a pay rise)
• un salaire (a salary)
• la rémunération (pay or remuneration)
• une fiche de paie (a payslip)
• gagner de l’argent (to earn money)
• un congé (leave)
• un jour de congé (a day off)
• une formation (training)
• un bosseur/une bosseuse (a hard worker; informal)

Tasks and Schedules

• un contrat (a contract)
• un dossier (a file or case)
• mettre à jour (to update)
• une réunion (a meeting)
• une tâche (a task)
• une échéance (a deadline or due date)
• un projet (a project)
• un rapport (a report)
• un voyage d’affaires (a business trip)
• les horaires (working hours or schedule)
• les heures supplémentaires (overtime hours)

Job Searches and Career Changes

• chercher un emploi (to look for a job)
• postuler (to apply)
• une candidature (an application)
• un CV (a CV or résumé)
• une lettre de motivation (a cover letter)
• un entretien d’embauche (a job interview)
• embaucher (to hire)
• démissionner (to resign)
• le chômage (unemployment)
• être licencié/licenciée (to be made redundant or dismissed, depending on context)
• licencier (to make someone redundant or dismiss them)
• être viré/virée (to be fired; informal and blunt)
• lourder (to fire; very informal and strong, best learnt for recognition)

Build Your Four-Line French Work Introduction

A long vocabulary list becomes useful when you connect it to one situation. Imagine meeting a new colleague, a client, or someone at an industry event. Write your own four-line card:

1. Je suis… plus your role.
2. Je travaille dans… plus your field, or Je travaille pour…/chez… plus your organisation.
3. Je m’occupe de… or Je suis responsable de… plus one responsibility, or Je travaille avec… plus a person or group you work with.
4. En ce moment, je travaille sur… plus one current project.

Pair it with one question in the right register, such as Dans quel domaine travaillez-vous ?. Say the question and your four lines aloud. Then cover them and retrieve them without looking. Use the exchange in a real conversation, listen to the wording the other person uses, and adjust your register or vocabulary next time.

That loop, choose, say, retrieve, use and adjust, is what turns French work vocabulary into a conversation you can actually have. For more help putting your French into use, see our guide to how to speak French.