by Tomoyuki Higuchi
How do you say “What do you do?” in Japanese?
Today’s phrase is :
What do you do?
仕事何してるの?
shigoto nanishiteruno*
*We often pronounce “してるの shiteruno” like “してんの shitenno” in spoken language.
If you want to ask politely, you can say :
仕事何されてるんですか?
shigoto nanisareterundesuka
Pronunciation
“仕事 shigoto” means “work”.
仕事
work
+
(あなたは)何してるの?
what do (you) do
We do not usually say “あなたは anatawa (= you)” in everday conversation.