Lesson written by French teacher David Issokson for students who want to learn French online, with audio recorded by Marie Assel Cambier, a professional voice artist and native French speaker.
Travailler meaning and pronunciation
Travailler means “to work” in French. It’s used not only for professional jobs but also for studying, practicing, or putting effort into something. For example, you can travailler à l’école (work at school), travailler son piano (practice the piano), or travailler dur (work hard).
Travailler is pronounced /tʁavaje/, like trah-vah-yay.
Example Sentences
Je travaille tous les jours sauf le dimanche.
I work every day except Sunday.
Tu travailles trop; tu as besoin de te reposer.
You work too much, you need to rest.
On travaille ensemble sur un projet important.
We’re working together on an important project.
Il a travaillé à Paris pendant trois ans.
He worked in Paris for three years.
Elle va travailler à la maison demain.
She’s going to work from home tomorrow.
👉 Travailler conjugation chart »
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🔗 Related words and expressions
- le travail — work, job
- un travailleur / une travailleuse — worker
- travailler dur — to work hard
- travailler à mi-temps / à plein temps — to work part-time / full-time
- travailler à distance — to work remotely
- travailler sur un projet — to work on a project
- travailler comme un fou / une folle — to work like crazy
- travailler pour le roi de Prusse — to work for nothing
- travailler d’arrache-pied — to work tirelessly, flat out
- ça ne marche pas — it doesn’t work (for objects, not people)
🚀 Continue building your French vocabulary!
Now that you’ve mastered travailler, take a look at my lesson on the slang verb bosser, which also means “to work”:
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