aller & infinitive

Question

hello. i think this is very misleading of you again with regard to aller plus infinitive..

you ask : how to translate : he is going to sell his motorbike.

i would naturally want to use aller. so, il va vendre

but then you write [ to sell ] 'vendre' in le Futur Proche. strongly suggesting you want us to use the future tense of vendre.

but no, the answer you give is il va vendre, not the future tense of vendre but the future tense of aller.

this is very confusing.

Accepted Answer

Hi Peter,
I think I understand your confusion.
In French (as in English) you can express the future by a near future ( futur proche) by saying you are going to do something or by a proper future ( future) by saying you will do something.
The first one uses :
aller + infinitif
Je vais prendre ma voiture = I am going to take my car 
Nous allons acheter du pain = We are going to buy some bread 
The verb aller (to go) is in the present tense and the second verb is in the infinitive 
So, 'vendre' in the futur proche is, 'il va vendre', in this example.
If you used the futur of vendre it would be, 'il vendra'. 
Il vendra sa moto l'année prochaine= He will sell his motorbike next year
You might not have seen this tense yet, but here is a basic Kwiziq lesson on it -
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/glossary/verb-tense-mood/the-french-future-tense-le-futur-simple
I hope this clarifies matters!

Answer

I think Peter is pointing out that the hint may be misleading.

The future proche of vendre in 3rd person singular is: il va vendre. So, really, you ARE putting the verb vendre in the tense of future proche. Just that the way it is constructed uses aller + infinitive of vendre.