"Then he goes to explore the garden"

Tony K.B1Kwiziq community member

"Then he goes to explore the garden"

The answer -  Puis il va explorer le jardin - suggests the immediate future tense (then he is going to explore the garden), but the English sentence suggests a present tense wandering off to do something.  So I'm a bit confused...
Asked 2 years ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Tony,

The present tense can be used to express near future, see here:-

Expressing immediate and near-future actions with the present tense (Le Présent) in French

Bonne continuation

Jim

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Actually, the sentence Il va explorer le jardin is present tense and not le futur proche, even though they look identical in this case:

He goes to explore the garden. -- Il va explorer le jardin. In this case, the main verb aller is followed by the infinitive, just like in English.
He is going to explore the garden. -- Il va explorer le jardin. The second case is a classic futur proche construction, in which aller is the auxiliary verb used to construct this tense.

"Then he goes to explore the garden"

The answer -  Puis il va explorer le jardin - suggests the immediate future tense (then he is going to explore the garden), but the English sentence suggests a present tense wandering off to do something.  So I'm a bit confused...

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