Learn Hardcore French: Je veux travailler à l'étranger plus tard.

Je veux travailler à l'étranger plus tard.

I want to work abroad later.

Breakdown of Je veux travailler à l'étranger plus tard.

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Questions & Answers about Je veux travailler à l'étranger plus tard.

Why is it Je veux travailler and not something like Je veux travaille?

In French, after vouloir (to want), the verb that follows must be in the infinitive form.

travailler = infinitive (to work)
travaille = a conjugated form (present tense, je travaille = I work)

So:

✅ Je veux travailler. = I want to work.
❌ Je veux travaille. = grammatically wrong (mixing a conjugated verb after veux).

Pattern to remember:
Je veux + infinitive (Je veux manger, je veux partir, je veux apprendre, etc.).

What is the difference between Je veux and Je voudrais?

Both use the verb vouloir (to want), but they differ in tone:

Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
Literally I want to work abroad later.
– Sounds direct, even a bit strong in some contexts (fine for talking about your own plans or dreams).
Je voudrais travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
Literally I would like to work abroad later.
– More polite/soft, often preferred when you don’t want to sound too blunt.

For talking about life plans or dreams, both are possible. For asking for things (in a restaurant, shop, etc.), Je voudrais is usually more polite.

Why do we say à l’étranger and not en étranger or dans un autre pays?

À l’étranger is a fixed expression in French that means abroad / in a foreign country.

à
- l’ (elision of le) + étranger (masculine noun)
  → à l’étranger = abroad

You cannot say:

❌ en étranger – wrong; étranger here is not a country.
❌ dans l’étranger – unnatural; people don’t say this.

You can rephrase with a different structure:

✅ dans un autre pays = in another country
✅ à l’international = internationally

But if you want the simple idea of abroad, the usual, natural phrase is à l’étranger.

What exactly is étranger here – an adjective or a noun?

In à l’étranger, étranger is a masculine noun meaning a foreign country / foreign land in a general sense.

Literally, à l’étranger is like to/at the foreign country/abroad.
That’s why we use le étranger → l’étranger (elision to make pronunciation easier).

When étranger is an adjective, it follows the noun:

un pays étranger = a foreign country
une langue étrangère = a foreign language

So:

l’étranger (with an article) → noun → abroad
étranger / étrangère / étrangers / étrangères after a noun → adjective → foreign.

Why is it à l’étranger and not au étranger or à le étranger?

Because of elision and the gender of the noun:

étranger is masculine: le étranger
In French, le
- word starting with a vowel or mute h → l’
  → le étranger → l’étranger

With à:

à + le → au (e.g. au cinéma)
à + l’ stays à l’ (no contraction)

So:

à + l’étranger → à l’étranger
❌ à le étranger – never written like this
❌ au étranger – wrong; au is à + le, not à + l’.

What does plus tard mean exactly? Does it always mean “later in life”?

Plus tard means later in a general sense; it doesn’t automatically mean later in life, but often the context gives that idea.

In this sentence:

Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
→ Usually understood as I want to work abroad later (in life / in the future).

Plus tard can also refer to:

Later today:
On en parlera plus tard. = We’ll talk about it later.
Later in the week / month / year, etc., depending on context.

It just means at a later time; how far in the future depends on what you’re talking about.

Can plus tard go somewhere else in the sentence, like at the beginning?

Yes. Plus tard is fairly flexible. All of these are correct, with small differences in emphasis:

Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
(Neutral: later modifies the whole idea of working abroad.)
Plus tard, je veux travailler à l’étranger.
(Emphasis on later as a time frame for your life plan.)
Je veux, plus tard, travailler à l’étranger.
(Possible, but sounds a bit more written or formal; less common in everyday speech.)

The most natural in spoken French for this meaning is the original:

Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.

Why don’t we use the future tense, like Je travaillerai à l’étranger plus tard?

You can use the future tense:

Je travaillerai à l’étranger plus tard. = I will work abroad later.

The difference is nuance:

Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
→ Focus on your desire / intention right now. It’s what you want.
Je travaillerai à l’étranger plus tard.
→ Stronger statement about the future as a fact or prediction: I will do it.

Both are correct. Use Je veux + infinitive when you talk about what you want; use the future tense when you’re stating or predicting what will happen.

How is Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard pronounced?

Approximate pronunciation (in English-style writing):

Je → like zhuh
veux → like vuh (rounded lips; not like English vuh in love)
travailler → trah-vah-yay
à → like ah
l’étranger → lay-tran-zhé
- tran like trahn (nasal an sound)
- gé like zhay (with é, not èr)
plus → here usually pronounced plü (like ploo but with rounded lips; the s is normally silent in plus tard)
tard → tar (final d is silent)

Put together:
zhuh vuh trah-vah-yay ah lay-tran-zhé plü tar

Also note one liaison that is not made:
You don’t usually link the s of plus to tard in this expression. It’s normally plu tard, not pluz tard.

How is vouloir conjugated in the present tense so I can change the subject?

Present tense of vouloir:

je veux – I want
tu veux – you want (informal singular)
il / elle / on veut – he / she / one wants
nous voulons – we want
vous voulez – you want (formal or plural)
ils / elles veulent – they want

Using the same structure:

Tu veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
You want to work abroad later.
Nous voulons travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
We want to work abroad later.

Pattern: subject + form of vouloir + infinitive.

Could I say Je veux de travailler à l’étranger plus tard?

No. That’s a very common mistake influenced by English.

In French, vouloir is followed directly by the infinitive without a preposition:

✅ Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
❌ Je veux de travailler à l’étranger plus tard.

So:

Je veux + infinitive
Je veux manger, je veux sortir, je veux apprendre, etc.

No de, no à before the verb after vouloir.

Do I have to say Je every time, or can I just say Veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard?

In standard French, you must keep the subject pronoun je:

✅ Je veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.
❌ Veux travailler à l’étranger plus tard.

Unlike in Spanish or Italian, French is not a “null-subject” language; the subject pronoun is normally required.

You may sometimes hear Veux pas or Sais pas in very informal spoken French, but that’s a colloquial shortening, not correct standard French. For learners, always include je.

Is plus here the same plus that means “more”?

Yes, it’s the same word plus, but with a different use:

plus = more
- Je veux plus d’argent. = I want more money.
- Here it clearly means more, often pronounced plüs or plys depending on context.
plus tard = later
- A fixed expression meaning later.
- The s of plus is normally silent in plus tard.

So it’s the same word, but in the phrase plus tard, the meaning is at a later time, not more late in a literal word-for-word sense.