Self-introduction at work: Explaining your role and previous job

🇫🇷 Among new colleagues this is a friendly, everyday way to ask about someone's role. It's relaxed but still polite thanks to vous.

💬 French drops the "a/an" before a job after je suis: Je suis infirmière "I'm a nurse". Adding un here sounds wrong.

💬 The ending -e in travaille is silent, so it sounds like (trah-vye).

💬 Équipe starts with a vowel, so la shrinks to l' and joins it. The team name follows directly with no "of": l'équipe marketing "the marketing team".

💬 The -iez ending marks an ongoing past situation, like a former job. Vous habitiez où ? "Where did you live?" works the same way.

🇫🇷 Asking about a newcomer's previous job is a standard, friendly opener at a French workplace, not nosiness.

💬 J'étais describes what you used to be over a period, not a single event. Swap the job: J'étais professeur "I was a teacher".

💬 English says "at a bank", but French uses dans for working inside a company: dans une entreprise "at a company".

💬 Cities take à for both "in" and "to": à Paris. Many city names change shape in French, so London becomes Londres.

🇫🇷 Said with rising interest, it shows you're listening and invites the person to say more. It's not doubt.

💬 Pendant means "for" when talking about a length of time, while pour usually doesn't. Answer with the same word: pendant deux ans.

💬 The q of cinq is pronounced and links smoothly into ans: (sank-ahn).

💬 The first vous is for emphasis, like "you, though", and the second is the normal one. Doubling it this way is very common in speech: Moi, je suis comptable.

🇫🇷 In offices people usually just say les RH (ay-rash).

💬 Aux is à + les, used to say which department you're in. With a singular department it becomes au: Je suis au marketing.

💬 This needs de before what you handle, which merges with "the": du recrutement, de la paie "payroll", des clients.

💬 Accueil is a spelling trap: the cc sounds like k and the end sounds like "oy" (ah-kuh-y).

🇫🇷 Thanking whoever showed you around on day one is a nice touch that French colleagues notice and appreciate.

🇫🇷 This is a warm way to accept an offer, like a coffee or an invitation to lunch. It sounds friendlier than a plain oui.

💬 Bonne + a time word is a handy well-wishing pattern: Bonne journée "Have a good day", Bonne soirée "Have a good evening".