Jobs and the World of Work
Primary 5 · English
Jobs and the World of Work
Lesson 1 of 3
13 min
Uwase walks to school past Nyabugogo. A welder’s sparks jump beside the road. A woman lifts a sack of tomatoes onto a scale. A moto driver waits with a spare helmet swinging from his hand.
In class, her teacher asks: "Uwase, what does your uncle do?" Uwase knows the answer perfectly in Kinyarwanda. In English, she stops.
Not today. By the end of this lesson you will name jobs in English and say exactly what each worker does — with the right ending on the verb. And one day, when somebody asks you what you do, you will have the words ready.
Read this slowly.
Mugisha is a carpenter. He makes doors and tables from wood.
The first sentence says who he is. That is his job: a carpenter.
The second sentence says what he does. That is his duty: he makes doors and tables.
Job first, duty second. Every worker you describe needs both, or the picture is only half finished.
| Job | Where the work happens | What the worker does (the duty) |
|---|---|---|
| a farmer | on a farm | grows beans, maize and bananas |
| a teacher | at a school | teaches lessons and marks books |
| a nurse | at a health centre | cares for patients and gives medicine |
| a tailor | in a small shop | sews uniforms, dresses and shirts |
| a mechanic | in a garage | repairs engines |
| a carpenter | in a workshop | makes doors, tables and beds from wood |
| a welder | beside the road | joins pieces of metal with heat |
| a shopkeeper | in a shop | sells sugar, soap and salt |
| a driver | on the road | drives a bus or a moto |
| a beekeeper | near the forest | keeps bees and collects honey |
| a vet | on farms | treats sick cows and goats |
| a journalist | at a radio station | writes and reads the news |
| an engineer | on a building site | plans roads, bridges and machines |
Choose three of them and say them out loud right now. "A tailor sews uniforms." Your mouth needs the practice, not only your eyes.
Say these two sentences aloud.
I work in a garage.
He works in a garage.
Same verb. Same garage. But the second one grew an s. Nothing else changed except the doer.
In the present simple, the verb takes -s when the doer is one person or one thing — that means he, she, it, or one name: Mugisha, Keza, my father, the tailor, that goat.
| No -s on the verb | -s on the verb |
|---|---|
| I work | he works |
| you work | she works |
| we work | it works |
| they work | Keza works |
| the teachers work | the teacher works |
Look at that last line twice. The teachers mark books — many teachers, no -s on the verb. The teacher marks books — one teacher, -s on the verb. The -s is not decoration. It tells your listener how many people you mean.
Uwase is a teacher. Watch her verb.
teach → She teaches P5 English.
Try saying "teachs" out loud. It sticks in your throat. That is exactly why English gives the verb a whole -es — it makes room for your mouth.
Her brother is a mechanic. Watch his verbs.
fix → He fixes engines. wash → He washes his hands. go → He goes home at six.
Rule 1. If the verb ends in -ch, -sh, -ss, -x or -o, add -es.
| Verb | He / she / it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| teach | teaches | She teaches P5. |
| wash | washes | He washes the bus. |
| pass | passes | She passes the exam. |
| fix | fixes | He fixes engines. |
| go | goes | He goes to the garage. |
Rule 2. If the verb ends in a consonant + y, change the y into i and add -es.
carry → Mutesi carries her beans to the market.
study → Keza studies at night.
fly → The pilot flies to Nairobi.
But if the letter before the y is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), leave the y in peace and just add -s.
play → He plays football at break. buy → She buys soap. say → He says good morning.
Rule 3. Three verbs do whatever they like. Learn them by heart.
| Verb | He / she / it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| have | has | A tailor has many customers. |
| be | is | My mother is a nurse. |
| do | does | My uncle does hard work. |
Rule 4. Every other verb: just add -s. sell → sells, drive → drives, keep → keeps, grow → grows, make → makes, repair → repairs.
Habimana is a beekeeper near the forest. Let us build his description in four steps.
Step 1 — name the job. Habimana is a beekeeper.
Step 2 — say where. He works near the forest. (work + s, because "he" is one person)
Step 3 — say the duty. He keeps bees and collects honey. (Two verbs, and both need the -s. The doer does not change, so the ending does not change.)
Step 4 — add a detail. He carries the honey to the market on Saturday. (carry ends in consonant + y → carries)
Put the four steps together and read it:
Habimana is a beekeeper. He works near the forest. He keeps bees and collects honey. He carries the honey to the market on Saturday.
Mutesi is a shopkeeper. She sells soap. She does not sell meat.
Look hard at does not sell. The -s left sell and jumped onto does. English lets only one word in the sentence wear that -s.
✔ She does not sell meat.
✘ She does not sells meat.
When you speak, you can squeeze the two words together: "She doesn’t sell meat."
Tip
One doer, one s
Ask yourself: is the doer he, she or it — just one? Then the verb wears the -s hat: she sews.
And the hat is worn by only one word at a time. If does is in the sentence, does wears it and the other verb goes bare: she does not sew.
Write your answer first, then tap Show answer to check. Being wrong on paper is how you become right in the exam.
Put the verb in the right form: My aunt ___ (sell) tomatoes at the market.
Answer: sells. "My aunt" is one person, and sell is an ordinary verb, so it just takes -s.
Put the verb in the right form: A vet ___ (treat) sick cows and goats.
Answer: treats. One vet → treats. Careful: "a vet" means one, even though it does not name anybody.
Put the verb in the right form: The pilot ___ (fly) from Kigali to Bujumbura.
Answer: flies. Fly ends in consonant + y, so the y becomes i and we add -es. Never "flys".
Two verbs are wrong. Repair the sentence: My uncle wash the buses and go home late.
Answer: My uncle washes the buses and goes home late. Wash ends in -sh, so it takes -es. Go ends in -o, so it takes -es too. One doer, so both verbs need the ending.
Write two sentences about a tailor: her job, then her duty.
A good answer: Umutoni is a tailor. She sews school uniforms in a small shop in Musanze. Job first, duty second, and the -s sitting safely on sews.
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