¿Qué hace usted?

Question

I have a few minor issues I hope someone can clear up for me.

First, to ask someone what they do, which would you say "¿Qué hace usted?" or "¿Qué usted hace?". Also, would this be more likely to be interpreted as "what are you doing?" (as in at the present moment) rather than a question about their profession?

So yeah, I'm unsure of the syntax involved, and the actual meaning of the sentence.

Answer 1

Without prior context how about

¿Qué dedica usted como trabajo?

¿Qué hace usted como trabajo?

Both are wrong, Eddy. The first one would be "What do you dedicate as a job", and the second one would sounds like "What do you do, being a job?" (calling the other guy "trabajo"). You can say:

¿En qué trabaja?

¿A qué se dedica?

¿Qué trabajo tiene?

¿Cuál es su profesión?

(All of them are formal)

Answer 2

You could certainly use 'Que hace usted' (que usted hace sounds funky) to refer to their profession if it's in context, like you were already talking about jobs.

If you want to be more specific, you could use 'A qué te dedicas?' and they will tell you about their job.

-Charlius-

Answer 3

Without prior context how about

¿Qué dedica usted como trabajo?

¿Qué hace usted como trabajo?

Answer 4

"¿Qué usted hace?" sounds like Yoda in Star Wars. If you see someone doing something, and you ask "¿Qué haces?", it would be like "What are you doing?". If you are talking about jobs or a similar topic, and you ask the same, it will be interpreted as "What do you do (for a living)?"