Are you ready to add a new French word to your vocabulary? Today we’re examining the verb appeler.
Take a listen to the correct pronunciation of appeler in the audio clip below:
As many of our readers already know the very basics of French, this word might seem familiar. One of the first phrases people tend to learn is the French for ‘my name is…’, which is ‘je m’appelle’. This verb conjugation comes from appeler. With this knowledge in mind, we can also work out its meaning. We use appeler to express English verbs such as to call, to name and to call (out) for or summon someone.
Although it’s part of the family of -er verbs – which you can read more about in our Easy Learning French Grammar for verbs – appeler doesn’t follow a regular conjugation pattern in all tenses. You might notice its irregular spelling changes in our upcoming examples, but you can also learn them directly by consulting our verb table for appeler.
Now it’s time for some examples of how to use this verb:
Est-ce que vous avez appelé les enfants pour le repas ? Have you called the children down for dinner?
J’appellerais ma fille Olivia, comme sa grand-mère. I would name / call my daughter Olivia, like her grandmother.
Nous allons appeler un taxi pour aller à l’aéroport. We’re going to call for a taxi to go to the airport.
On vous appellera demain depuis Zoom. We will call you tomorrow on Zoom.
Appelle le médecin ! Elle est sur le point d’accoucher ! Call the doctor! She’s about to give birth!
appeler l’ascenseur to call the lift
appeler au secours to call for help
As mentioned at the start of our blog, this verb has an extremely useful reflexive form which is one of the first that many people use when learning French – s’appeler. The English translation differs slightly in the reflexive use:
s’appeler to be called
« Comment t’appelles-tu ? » « Je m’appelle Ali. » “What’s your name?” (literally: ‘How do you call yourself?) “My name is Ali.” (literally: ‘I call myself Ali.)
Comment ça s’appelait ? What did that used to be called?
We hope that today’s blog has given you a bit more confidence in using this verb, but there are plenty more to study in your journey to improving your French. We call this blog Word of the Week for a reason – so we’ll see you again next time!
Written by Holly Tarbet, freelance copywriter and editor.
All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.
