你叫什么名字？
nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
What's your name?
How to ask 'What do you do?' in Chinese
你做什么工作？
nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?
What do you do?
Grammar and structure
This is a question formed with '什么' (what). '你' means 'you', '做' means 'do', '什么' means 'what', and '工作' means 'work/job'.
When to use it
Use this when you want to ask about someone's profession in a casual or formal setting. It's a standard icebreaker. Avoid using '工作是什么' (what is your job) which is less natural; '做什么工作' is the idiomatic way.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “What do you do?” in Chinese?
“What do you do?” in Chinese is 你做什么工作？ (nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?).
How do you pronounce 你做什么工作？?
你做什么工作？ is pronounced nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?.
More phrases for this situation
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