Learn French: Il veut devenir un bon médecin. - He wants to become a good doctor.

Il veut devenir un bon médecin.

He wants to become a good doctor.

Breakdown of Il veut devenir un bon médecin.

Questions & Answers about Il veut devenir un bon médecin.

Why does veut end in a "t" instead of an "x" like in je veux?

Vouloir (to want) is an irregular verb. While the "I" and "you" forms end in an "x" (je veux, tu veux), the "he", "she", and "one" forms end in a "t" (il veut, elle veut, on veut).

Why isn't devenir conjugated here?

When you have two verbs back-to-back in French, only the first one is conjugated to match the subject (il veut). The second verb stays in its full, unchanged dictionary form (devenir). It works exactly like English: "he wants" (conjugated) plus "to become" (unchanged).

I learned that we don't use "a" or "an" with professions in French. Why is un used here?

You have a good memory! Usually, you drop the article for professions, like in Il est médecin (He is a doctor). However, the rule changes if you add an adjective to describe the person. Because we added bon (good), the article un is required again.

Doesn't the adjective usually go after the noun in French? Why isn't it un médecin bon?

Yes, most adjectives go after the noun. But a handful of very common adjectives describing Beauty, Age, Goodness, and Size (often called the BAGS adjectives) go before the noun. Since bon means "good", it goes right before médecin.