Does adding an indefinite article act as a meaning changer in this sentence?

Question

This is the type of sentence:

Ella trabaja como minera - She works as a miner.

I know indefinite articles aren't used when directly referring to people's occupations in Spanish, but I had assumed that in the case of comparison they would be. So if "como" were being translated as "like" then I'd say:

Ella trabaja como una minera - She works like a miner.

Is this assumption correct?

Answer 1

"Trabaja como minera" it's not a common expression -we normally say "de minera", as other people already said here. "Trabaja como una minera" is more like "He/she works like a miner would/as hard as a miner (would)".

Exactly what I was after. Many thanks Lazarus. - jellonz, Sep 22, 2017

Answer 2

Ken is right, we don't really use "como" in this sense.

Trabaja de minera, trabaja de profesor, trabaja de modelo.

¿De qué trabajas? Trabajo de camarero.

You can find some hits with como on the web.

Trabaja como modelo is actually quite common, however "trabaja de modelo" is the way to go.

I will call a gramma specialist to this question.

Typo: grammaR ("Gramma" is what some English-speaking children call their grandmother.) - AnnRon, Sep 23, 2017

Answer 3

Jellonz:

Here's what I wrote:

I think you should say "trabaja de minera" for the temporary meaning.

I removed it because this was not what you were asking about.

The above is: "working as a miner" (temporarily working in some field, not as a chosen career. )

Regarding use of non-use of indefinite article in this case...I know you should use the article if you qualified the noun...She bakes bread like an excellent professional baker. Without the qualifiers / adjectives, my guess would be that either with or without would be common enough so as not to raise too many eyebrows.

Hi Ken. Good to see you. I always value your opinion even though you are a non-native speaker, so please edit it back in. Cheers :) - jellonz, Sep 22, 2017

Thanks Ken. Based on Heidi's response the plot has thickened somewhat. - jellonz, Sep 22, 2017

Answer 4

Hay un dicho que dice: Trabaja como un burro. Se ve el artículo indefinido en este caso.

Gracias Dani. But would the same apply when an occupation is used in the comparison? eg. Cortas como UN leñador - You chop like a lumberjack: Is the "un" necessary here? - jellonz, Sep 22, 2017

I don't know of any grammar "rule" regarding this. I'm just going on instinct.because it "sounds" right. I'll go with "Un" unless someone can prove different. - Daniela2041, Sep 22, 2017

I just checked with Google Translate. It agrees with me. We'll now see if anybody else does. :) - Daniela2041, Sep 22, 2017

Gracias Dani. Unfortunately Google also says: Soy UN leñador, which casts a doubt over their translations. But my instinct said the same as yours, although yours is much more valuable :) - jellonz, Sep 22, 2017