Thread: Why is КЕМ used instead of ЧТО....?

In this sentence

Кем Вы работаете на автобусной станции?

What do you do at the bus station?

Why is Кем used here instead of Что, I thought Кем was the instrumental of Who?

Originally Posted by M.Vonok

In this sentence

Кем Вы работаете на автобусной станции?

What do you do at the bus station?

Why is Кем used here instead of Что, I thought Кем was the instrumental of Who?

Yes, кем is the instrumental of кто.

As for the words choice in the phrase, well, this is what we say when asking what someone's job is.

Кем ты работаешь? - What's your job? or What do you do?

Also, when you answer this question or just states what your job is you need instrumental after the verb работать as well. So this is where the instrumental comes from.

Я работаю поваром - I work as a cook

I hope this helps

Literally:
Кем Вы работаете на автобусной станции? = As who do you work at the bus station? (Who's duty do you perform?)

Я работаю водителем. = I work as a driver.

Originally Posted by M.Vonok

Кем Вы работаете на автобусной станции?

What do you do at the bus station?

The problem is the two questions convey the same meaning, but they are not the literal translations of each other.

As it-ogo noted, "Кем вы работаете" is literally translated as "As who do you work?" More precisely, this question actually means "What is you job position"?

On the other hand, if you want to translate "What do you do at the bus station?" into Russian literally, it would be: "Что вы делаете на автобусной станции?"

But in Russian, "Что вы делаете на автобусной станции?" would not be understood as a question about someone's job. It is more like as if you see your friend at the bus station and ask him what he is doing there. And the expected answer would be: "Я жду автобуса" - "I am waiting for a bus".

Песня

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

Песня

Спасибо вам за песню, мне нравится)

Спасибо всем, сейчас я понимаю это использование