你在做什么工作？

Learning Chinese: How to Ask "What Do You Do for Work?" in Chinese

Chinese Characters: 你做什么工作？
Pinyin: Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?
Pronunciation: ni3 zuo4 shen2 me5 gong1 zuo4
English Translation: What do you do for work?

Usage:

"你做什么工作？ (Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?)" is a common question used to ask someone about their occupation or profession. It can be used in both formal and informal settings.

Example:

Chinese: 你做什么工作？
Pinyin: Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?
English: What do you do for work?
Variations:

There are a few variations of "你做什么工作？ (Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?)" that you may hear:

你在哪里工作？ (Nǐ zài nǎ lǐ gōng zuò?): Where do you work?
你的职业是什么？ (Nǐ de zhí yè shì shén me?): What is your profession?
Tips for Learning:

Practice saying "你做什么工作？ (Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?)" out loud to improve your pronunciation.
Listen to native Chinese speakers asking about someone's occupation to get a sense of the natural rhythm and intonation.
Use "你做什么工作？ (Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?)" in your daily conversations to practice using it in context.
Additional Notes:

"你做什么工作？ (Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?)" is a polite way to ask someone about their occupation.
To answer the question, you can simply state your occupation or profession. For example, if you are a teacher, you would say "我是老师 (wǒ shì lǎoshī)".
You can also use "你做什么工作？ (Nǐ zuò shén me gōng zuò?)" to ask someone about their hobbies or interests. In this case, you would typically follow up with a question like "你喜欢做什么？ (nǐ xǐ huan zuò shén me?)", which means "what do you like to do?"