Question 1

Why do we use avant de followed by the infinitive nager here?

Accepted Answer

We use avant de plus an infinitive when the subject of both actions is the same. Since the person warming up (je) is the same person swimming, we use the infinitive. Also, in French, prepositions like de are always followed by an infinitive, whereas English uses the -ing form like in before swimming.

Question 2

I thought the word for before was just avant. Why is there a de in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

When you want to express before doing an action and follow it with a verb, you must use avant de plus the infinitive. You only use avant by itself when it is followed by a noun, such as avant la leçon (before the lesson).

Question 3

Why is the pronoun m' used before échauffer, even though the verb is an infinitive?

Accepted Answer

The verb for to warm up is s'échauffer, which is a reflexive verb. Even when a reflexive verb is left in the infinitive form, its reflexive pronoun must still match the person doing the action. Since the subject of the sentence is Je, the pronoun changes from se to me, which drops the E to become m' before a vowel.

Question 4

Could I use the simple future tense and say Je m'échaufferai instead of Je vais m'échauffer?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! Je vais m'échauffer uses the near future for I am going to warm up, which is very common in everyday spoken French. Je m'échaufferai uses the simple future for I will warm up. Both are grammatically correct and pair perfectly with the avant de time clause.

Je vais m'échauffer avant de nager.

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