Paul veut faire un voyage.

Veut is the third-person singular form of the verb vouloir in the present tense.

So:

• je veux = I want
• tu veux = you want
• il / elle / on veut = he / she / one wants

In this sentence, Paul is a third-person singular subject, so French uses veut.

Also, vouloir is an irregular verb, so you cannot guess veut just by applying a regular pattern.

Because after veut (wants), the next verb stays in the infinitive.

So French works like this:

• Paul veut faire... = Paul wants to do / to make / to take...
• Marie veut partir. = Marie wants to leave.
• Ils veulent voyager. = They want to travel.

This is very common in French: a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive.

Because vouloir is one of the verbs that is followed directly by an infinitive.

So you say:

• vouloir faire
• vouloir partir
• vouloir voyager

Not:

• vouloir de faire
• vouloir à faire

This is something learners often have to memorize verb by verb, because some French verbs do need a preposition before another verb, but vouloir does not.

Both are possible, but they are not exactly the same in feel.

• faire un voyage = to take a trip / make a journey
• voyager = to travel

So:

• Paul veut faire un voyage suggests one trip or a particular journey
• Paul veut voyager sounds more general: Paul wants to travel

In many contexts, Paul veut voyager may sound a bit more natural if the idea is simply that Paul wants to travel. But faire un voyage is still understandable and correct.

Because voyage is a countable noun here, meaning a trip or a journey.

French usually needs an article before a noun in this kind of sentence, so:

• un voyage = a trip
• le voyage = the trip
• des voyages = trips

You normally would not say just faire voyage.

Voyage is masculine, which is why the sentence has un voyage.

Examples:

• un voyage
• le voyage
• ce voyage

If it were feminine, you would expect une, but that is not the case here.

Yes, in this sentence the word order is very close to English:

• Paul = subject
• veut = conjugated verb
• faire = infinitive
• un voyage = object

So the structure is:

Subject + wants + infinitive + object

That makes this sentence fairly straightforward for an English speaker.

A common pronunciation is:

Paul veut faire un voyage
/pɔl vø fɛʁ œ̃ vwajaʒ/

A rough English-style guide:

• Paul ≈ pohl
• veut ≈ something like vuh, but with rounded lips
• faire ≈ fehr
• un = a nasal vowel; the n is not really pronounced as a full n
• voyage ≈ vwah-yazh

A few pronunciation notes:

• veut has the French eu sound, which does not exist exactly in English
• un has a nasal vowel, which is often hard for beginners
• voyage starts with vw-, not just v- or w-

Yes, it is understandable and correct.

That said, depending on context, a French speaker might also say:

• Paul veut voyager. = Paul wants to travel.
• Paul veut partir en voyage. = Paul wants to go on a trip.

So Paul veut faire un voyage is fine, but it can sound a little more focused on taking one trip rather than traveling in general.

Literally, faire often means to do or to make, but in many French expressions it is used in a broader way.

So faire un voyage is not best translated word-for-word as do a trip. It is better understood as:

• take a trip
• go on a trip
• make a journey

This is very common in French: the literal meanings of words do not always match the most natural English wording.