à enchaîner

Question

I don't understand the usage of "à enchaîner" here.

Can someone explain the grammar ? It's not a fixed expression as far as I can see. Why à + infinitive ? Why not en + present participle ? Is it the same thing ? How would we translate this ? By/while enchaining ?

Is it the same as "en enchaînant" (en + present participle) , which would mean "in enchaining", or perhaps "while enchaining"

am I correct ?

Thanks Paul.

Accepted Answer

Hi Paul,
This is a good question !
j'étais assis ... à enchaîner les épisodes ...= I was sat ...  watching  episodes one after the other 
j'étais  occupé à faire des mots croisés = I was busy doing crosswords
describe what the person was 'doing' you could have used the participe présent enchainant or faisant  but not the gérondif ( + en) as it links two separate actions as in the following Kwiziq lesson -
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-form-le-gerondif-en-ant-whileby-ingForming Le Gérondif: en + '-ant' (while/by + -ing)
Hope this helps!

Answer

Hi Paul,Enchainer (qch / qqn) vtr   --  As I see it  "to chain" + objectSo,  à enchainer  --> to chain   ( I realise that the infinitive means "to chain") but this is how I see the usage in a sentence with the preposition à.   Additionally to string things together.Jim