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How to Say ‘What was your first role?’ in German

Was war Ihre erste Rolle?

vahs vahr EE-reh AIR-steh ROL-leh

[vahs vahr EE-reh AIR-steh ROL-leh]

💬 Usage Tip: "Ihre" is the formal possessive "your." Great interview phrase. "Rolle" here means job role, not theatre role!

🇩🇪 In Germany: Formal "Sie/Ihre" is still standard in many German workplaces, especially interviews.

Phrase Breakdown

Was

[vahs]

what

Question word used to ask for information about something.

Example

Was machen Sie beruflich?

What do you do professionally?

war

[vahr]

was

Past tense of sein, meaning was.

Example

Früher war ich Student.

I used to be a student.

Ihre

[EE-reh]

your

Formal possessive pronoun meaning your.

Example

Ist das Ihre Tasche?

Is that your bag?

erste

[AIR-steh]

first

Erste means first, often referring to order or sequence.

Example

Das war meine erste Stelle.

That was my first job.

Rolle

[ROL-leh]

role; position

Rolle can mean role, function, or job position depending on context.

Example

Meine Rolle im Team war sehr technisch.

My role on the team was very technical.

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