NOTES
(from Duolingo)

There are three ways to specify an occupation in Italian:

  • Fare + determinate article + profession (e.g. Faccio il medico): by far the most common way. It describes the person’s current role as an activity.
  • Essere + indeterminate article + profession (e.g. Sono un medico – I am a medic): similar to the English construction, it describes the person’s professional category. It can be used even if the person doesn’t currently work in the profession, and the indefinite article can be dropped in informal contexts.
  • Lavorare come + profession (e.g. Lavoro come medico – I work as a medic): more formal than the previous versions, it describes the current occupation but might not be the role the person identifies with.
NOTES
(by DuoItalian)

Professions in Italian can also be converted from masculine to feminine.  While there are always exceptions to the rules, the basic principles are as follows.

  • Masculine occupations ending with –tore change their suffixes to -trice (dottore being one particular exception).
  • Other various occupations change their endings to -essa (professoressa, avvocatessa).
  • Some Italian professions do not have a feminine version, for these we simply change the article to indicate gender (il — la insegnante, il — la contante).
VOCABULARY
(from Duolingo)
architettoarchitect
pagliaccioclown
conduttoreconductor
ingegnereengineer
lavorowork
avvocatolawyer
scrittricewriter (fem.)
direttoredirector
meccanicomechanic
dottoressadoctor (fem.)
idraulicoplumber
poliziottopoliceman
postinomailman
segretariasecretary
operaioworker
capitanocaptain
ricercatoreresearcher
scrittorewriter (masc.)
insegnanteteacher
dottoredoctor (masc.)

 

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