I'm finding the grammar explanations difficult

Question

The grammar explanations describe accurately. When I studied French I had not had a great education including in English so my understanding of the grammar explanations was not great and still isn't. My French got better through sheer repetition on my own part in private study and by living in France for the best part of a year. In other words there was a large amount of learning what is correct and not necessarily why, followed by what sounds right because I lived there long enough and in only francophone company to know. I am sticking with it, I just am also listening to France 24 en direct on Youtube as well because it's how my French improved so much between year 2 and 4 of my degree back in the day. I found in this exercise I was translating differently, sometimes because I'm so rusty, sometimes because the colloquial language has changed and sometimes because I used a different way of expressing it. It is honing my French again but I am wondering if to use aller faire instead of the future tense is as wrong as this exercise suggests i.e. was I supposed to remember it was to practise the future tense or were my translations really as wrong as it suggested?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour F,
It's understandable that grammar explanations can be challenging, especially if you've learnt French through immersion and repetition. And, of course, in a real-life conversation, you might have more flexibility (to use one tense over another). However, the goal of our exercises is to practice as many grammatical structures as possible within the context of everyday situations (i.e. how you would hear them being used in everyday life). In the exercise above, you are expected to use Le Futur Simple for example. I can see your point about the first sentence (i.e. using Le Futur Proche in an everyday situation) ; yet, it is not wrong to use Le Futur Simple here. And, as Le Futur Simple is used in the first sentence, you should carry on using it througout the dialogue as French grammar is quite strict about such things.
Don't be discouraged by your exercise results; instead, use them as a tool to refine your understanding of specific grammatical points.
Bon courage et bonne journée !