Breakdown of Quand elle aura obtenu son diplôme, elle voudra travailler à l’étranger sans que sa famille s’inquiète trop.
Questions & Answers about Quand elle aura obtenu son diplôme, elle voudra travailler à l’étranger sans que sa famille s’inquiète trop.
Aura obtenu is the future perfect (futur antérieur).
It is used because the sentence talks about one future action happening before another future action:
- elle aura obtenu son diplôme = she will have obtained her degree
- elle voudra travailler = she will want to work
So the idea is:
- first she gets her degree
- after that, she wants to work abroad
French often uses the future perfect after quand when the action in that clause will be completed before the action in the main clause.
French is different from English here.
After quand referring to the future, French normally uses a future tense, not a present tense.
So French says:
- Quand elle aura obtenu son diplôme...
- literally: When she will have obtained her degree...
Even though English usually says When she gets / has gotten her degree..., French keeps the future idea visible in the verb form.
Obtenir son diplôme means to obtain / earn / get one’s diploma or degree.
In natural English, depending on context, it could be translated as:
- to get her degree
- to earn her diploma
- to graduate
A useful note: French diplôme does not always match English diploma exactly. In many contexts, son diplôme may be best translated as her degree.
Because diplôme is a masculine noun in French.
So the possessive adjective must be masculine too:
- son diplôme = her degree
This can feel strange to English speakers, but the possessive adjective agrees with the noun possessed, not with the person who owns it.
So:
- son diplôme = her degree
- sa famille = her family
The owner is elle, but the form depends on whether the noun is masculine or feminine.
Sans que means without ...ing / without the fact that ...
It is used when the clause after without has its own subject.
Here:
- elle voudra travailler à l’étranger
- sans que sa famille s’inquiète trop
The person wanting to work is she, but the people worrying are her family. Since the subject changes, French uses sans que + conjugated verb.
Compare:
- Elle veut partir sans prévenir sa famille.
Same subject: she leaves / she warns → sans + infinitive - Elle veut partir sans que sa famille le sache.
Different subject: she leaves / her family knows → sans que + verb
Because sans que is a conjunction that normally requires the subjunctive.
So:
- sans que sa famille s’inquiète trop
The base form would be s’inquiéter, and the subjunctive here is s’inquiète.
This is one of those cases where the conjunction itself tells you to use the subjunctive. You do not choose it because of the meaning alone; it is part of the grammar pattern:
- avant que
- subjunctive
- bien que
- subjunctive
- pour que
- subjunctive
- sans que
- subjunctive
In this sentence, you know it is subjunctive because it comes after sans que, which requires the subjunctive.
Formally, s’inquiète looks the same as the present indicative and the present subjunctive for il/elle/on:
- indicative: elle s’inquiète
- subjunctive: qu’elle s’inquiète
So the form itself does not change here. The context tells you it is subjunctive.
Because famille is grammatically singular in French.
So French treats it as one unit:
- sa famille s’inquiète
Even though a family contains several people, the noun itself is singular, so the verb is singular too.
English can sometimes do something similar with the family is worried, though British English sometimes uses a plural verb more easily than French does.
À l’étranger means abroad or literally in/to a foreign country.
In this sentence:
- travailler à l’étranger = to work abroad
This is a fixed expression. French commonly uses:
- vivre à l’étranger = to live abroad
- partir à l’étranger = to go abroad
- travailler à l’étranger = to work abroad
So it is best learned as a set phrase.
Trop means too much / too here, and it modifies s’inquiète:
- s’inquiète trop = worries too much
French often places adverbs like this after the verb:
- Il parle bien.
- Elle travaille beaucoup.
- Sa famille s’inquiète trop.
So the placement is normal and natural.
S’inquiéter is a pronominal verb meaning to worry or to become worried.
So:
- sa famille s’inquiète = her family worries / gets worried
The se is part of the verb’s normal form:
- je m’inquiète
- tu t’inquiètes
- elle s’inquiète
- nous nous inquiétons
It is often followed by de when you say what someone is worried about:
- Elle s’inquiète de son avenir. = She worries about her future.
But here, no object is needed, because the sentence just says the family worries too much.
Not in this sentence, because that would change the subject.
- sans s’inquiéter trop would mean without worrying too much herself
- but the actual sentence means without her family worrying too much
So French needs:
- sans que sa famille s’inquiète trop
A good rule:
- same subject → often sans + infinitive
- different subject → sans que + subjunctive
It can be translated either way depending on style.
Possible natural translations:
- When she has gotten her degree...
- Once she has obtained her degree...
- After she gets her degree...
Because of the future perfect (aura obtenu), the French strongly suggests the degree will be completed before the next action. That is why once or after can sometimes sound very natural in English, even though quand literally means when.