Work & Occupations: Vocabulary for jobs, work, and the workplace

Back to HSK 1 category list

Pinyin is the standard romanisation used to show Mandarin pronunciation using the Latin alphabet. You’ll often see tone marks on the vowels to show the four tones (plus the neutral tone), for example mā / má / mǎ / mà / ma. “Numbered pinyin” shows the same tones using a number after the syllable instead of tone marks, for example ma1 / ma2 / ma3 / ma4 / ma (sometimes written as ma5 for the neutral tone). Numbered pinyin is handy when you can’t easily type tone marks, while tone-mark pinyin is usually easier to read once you’re used to it.

打工

• Pinyin: dǎ gōng
• Numbered pinyin: da3 gong1
• English translation: to do part-time work

单位

• Pinyin: dān wèi
• Numbered pinyin: dan1 wei4
• English translation: unit, organisation

队

• Pinyin: duì
• Numbered pinyin: dui4
• English translation: team

队长

• Pinyin: duì zhǎng
• Numbered pinyin: dui4 zhang3
• English translation: team leader

干活儿

• Pinyin: gàn huó r
• Numbered pinyin: gan4 huo2 r5
• English translation: to work, to do chores

公司

• Pinyin: gōng sī
• Numbered pinyin: gong1 si1
• English translation: company

顾客

• Pinyin: gù kè
• Numbered pinyin: gu4 ke4
• English translation: customer

会

• Pinyin: huì
• Numbered pinyin: hui4
• English translation: meeting, conference

机会

• Pinyin: jī huì
• Numbered pinyin: ji1 hui4
• English translation: opportunity

计划

• Pinyin: jì huà
• Numbered pinyin: ji4 hua4
• English translation: plan

家

• Pinyin: jiā
• Numbered pinyin: jia1
• English translation: specialist, expert

教师

• Pinyin: jiào shī
• Numbered pinyin: jiao4 shi1
• English translation: teacher

经理

• Pinyin: jīng lǐ
• Numbered pinyin: jing1 li3
• English translation: manager

商人

• Pinyin: shāng rén
• Numbered pinyin: shang1 ren2
• English translation: businessperson

市长

• Pinyin: shì zhǎng
• Numbered pinyin: shi4 zhang3
• English translation: mayor

司机

• Pinyin: sī jī
• Numbered pinyin: si1 ji1
• English translation: driver

同事

• Pinyin: tóng shì
• Numbered pinyin: tong2 shi4
• English translation: colleague

院长

• Pinyin: yuàn zhǎng
• Numbered pinyin: yuan4 zhang3
• English translation: head of an institution, dean

作家

• Pinyin: zuò jiā
• Numbered pinyin: zuo4 jia1
• English translation: writer, author

Back to HSK 1 category list