Learn Hardcore French: Paul veut se consacrer à son futur travail. - Paul wants to devote himself to his future job.

Consacrer quelque chose à… = to devote something to…
- Example: Il consacre tout son temps à ses enfants.
  He devotes all his time to his children.
Se consacrer à… = to devote oneself to…
- Example: Paul veut se consacrer à son futur travail.
  Paul wants to devote himself to his future work.

The verb is reflexive because the subject and the object are the same person:

Paul is both the one acting and the one being devoted (he devotes himself).

Could I say Paul veut consacrer lui-même à son futur travail instead?

No, that is incorrect French.

You must use the reflexive pronoun se and place it in the correct position:

✅ Paul veut se consacrer à son futur travail.
❌ Paul veut consacrer lui-même à son futur travail.

Reasons:

With reflexive verbs, the pronoun is me, te, se, nous, vous, se, not a stressed form like lui.
In a verb + infinitive structure like veut se consacrer, the reflexive pronoun goes before the infinitive, not at the end.

So the correct pattern is:

[subject] + [conjugated vouloir] + [reflexive pronoun] + [infinitive]
- Paul veut se consacrer…

Why is it veut se consacrer and not se veut consacrer?

In this sentence, vouloir is used as a normal verb that takes an infinitive:

Paul veut se consacrer…
= Paul wants to devote himself…

This follows the common pattern vouloir + infinitive.

Se vouloir, on the other hand, is a different structure that means to want to be (considered as), often with an adjective:

Il se veut moderne.
He wants to be seen as modern.

So:

✅ Paul veut se consacrer à son futur travail.
❌ Paul se veut consacrer à son futur travail. (ungrammatical in standard French)

Why do we use à after se consacrer, not pour or dans?

The verb se consacrer is always followed by the preposition à:

se consacrer à quelque chose / à quelqu’un / à faire quelque chose

Examples:

Elle s’est consacrée à sa famille.
Il veut se consacrer à ses études.

You would not say:

❌ se consacrer pour son travail
❌ se consacrer dans son travail

So in this sentence:

se consacrer à son futur travail
is the only natural, correct structure.

What is the nuance of veut here? Could it be voudrait instead?

veut (from vouloir) = wants
It’s direct and strong: a clear, firm intention or desire.
voudrait = would like
It sounds more polite, tentative, or hypothetical.

So:

Paul veut se consacrer à son futur travail.
= Paul wants (is determined) to devote himself to his future work.
Paul voudrait se consacrer à son futur travail.
= Paul would like to devote himself to his future work (less forceful, more like a wish).

Both are grammatically correct; the choice depends on how strong you want Paul’s intention to sound.

What does son mean here, and why not sa?

Son means his / her / its depending on context. Here, it means his, because we’re talking about Paul.

In French, son / sa / ses agree with the gender and number of the noun possessed, not with the person who possesses.

travail is masculine singular → you must use son:
- son travail (his/her work)

Compare:

sa maison (feminine noun) → his/her house
son livre (masculine noun) → his/her book
ses projets (plural noun) → his/her projects

So:

✅ son futur travail
❌ sa futur travail (wrong gender agreement)

What is the difference between travail, emploi, and métier? Could I replace travail here?

Roughly:

travail = work, job (general or abstract)
emploi = employment, job position
métier = trade, profession (what kind of work you do)

In this sentence:

son futur travail = his future work / job (quite general)

Possible alternatives (with slightly different nuances):

son futur emploi – his future job position (more about a post he will get)
son futur métier – his future profession (doctor, engineer, etc.)

All three could be used, depending on what you mean:

travail: what he will be doing day to day
emploi: the job position he will have
métier: the type of profession he will have

Why is it son futur travail and not son travail futur?

In French, many adjectives can come before or after the noun, but the position often changes the nuance or naturalness.

futur usually comes before the noun when it simply means future in time:
- mon futur mari – my future husband
- sa future maison – his/her future house
- son futur travail – his future work/job

Travail futur is grammatically possible but sounds very formal or odd in everyday language, and it tends to sound like “work that will come later” in an abstract way. In normal speech, you would say:

✅ son futur travail
❌ son travail futur (very unusual in this context)

Can se consacrer be followed by a verb instead of a noun?

Yes. Se consacrer can be followed by:

A noun:
- se consacrer à sa famille
- se consacrer à son futur travail
An infinitive verb, introduced by à:
- se consacrer à étudier
- se consacrer à aider les autres

Examples:

Après sa retraite, il veut se consacrer à voyager.
After his retirement, he wants to devote himself to travelling.

Is futur here an adjective or a noun? And is it common?

In son futur travail, futur is an adjective meaning future.

It’s common and natural with nouns like:

son futur travail – his future work/job
sa future femme – his future wife
leur future maison – their future house

This is different from the noun le futur:

Dans le futur, il veut travailler à l’étranger.
In the future, he wants to work abroad.

So in the sentence given, futur is simply a normal, frequent adjective.