The infinitive and the gerund

Question

The text uses the infinitive for "je passerai la soiree a parler ..." and the gerund for "Geraldine s'ennuiera en ecoutant ..." Why is the infinitive used in the first part of the sentence and the gerund used in the second part?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Brett,
The use of ‘while’ in brackets gives a hint to use the gerund instead of the infinitive:

- While Géraldine gets bored (while) listening to… (as she listens to...)
= Tandis que Géraldine s’ennuiera en écoutant…
→ the boredom will happen at the same time as listening to Mme Poitier
 
- While Géraldine get bored listening to…
= Tandis que Géraldine s’ennuiera à écouter…
→ the boredom is a continuity of the action of listening to Mme Poitier

Attention: passer [son temps] à + infinitive
Je passerai la soirée à parler… = I will spend the evening talking...
→ passer [son temps] à + infinitive = to spend [one’s time] + English gerund
 
Look at the following sentence:
I like dancing = j’aime danser (j’aime dansant)
→ English gerund (= a noun) vs infinitive in French (= a verb)
See the following link: le-participe-present-et-le-gerondif
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !