Is student a profession?

Question

I apologize if this gets posted twice -- I had to log in and it disappeared.  Question:  If I am a professor, I say "Je suis professeur."  But if I am a student, do I say "Je suis étudiant." even though it's not exactly a profession?  Merci !

Answer

Hi Lisa - in this sense it acts like a profession, yes. Don't forget to add -e if you want to make "étudiant" a feminine noun.

However. note that as soon as you were to add detail to this, e.g. if you were describing the sort of student you were, (e.g. adding an adjective) then you would use 'une'. E.g. Je suis un(e) étudiant(e) studieux/-se. This is also the case if you wanted to follow on with "qui ..." for example. (I'm a student that...). In these sentences you're not making using the word to say what you do, rather the detail is what matters and so the article is needed here (I will double check this with Aurélie though.)

Answer

Bonjour Gruff,
Your explanation is the way that I learned about professions, too.  Once an adjective is added as a qualifier/modifier then the article is required.  Aurélie will, of course, have THE definitive answer.
Bonne journée

Answer

The lesson should mention that being a student is considered a profession because generally one might think a profession is something done after one has received an education.