Focus on French Verbs: appeler

The French verb appeler means "to call." You can use it when you call someone on the phone, call out to someone nearby, or refer to someone or something by a particular name.

In English, call covers several different constructions. French often uses appeler directly before the person or thing involved, without the preposition English adds in call someone.

Conjugation

Appeler is a regular -er verb with a spelling change in part of its conjugation. The l doubles in forms such as j'appelle, tu appelles, and ils appellent, while forms such as nous appelons and vous appelez keep a single l.

See appeler for all tenses and forms.

Common patterns and prepositions

Appeler usually takes a direct object with no preposition when you call someone or something.

Pattern	English
appeler + direct object	to call someone
appeler + person or thing + name	to call or name someone or something
appeler + person + description	to call someone (a name or label)
appeler à l'aide	to call for help

Calling someone

Use appeler + person when you call someone, including when you contact someone by phone:

French	English
J'appelle Marie.	I'm calling Marie.
Tu peux appeler le médecin ?	Can you call the doctor?
Nous appelons nos parents chaque dimanche.	We call our parents every Sunday.

French does not require a preposition between appeler and the person you call:

appeler + person

This pattern is useful to remember because English expressions such as "call someone" and "give someone a call" use different structures while French can simply use appeler.

Calling out to someone

Appeler can also mean to call out to someone to get their attention:

French	English
Elle appelle son frère.	She's calling her brother.
Quelqu'un m'appelle.	Someone is calling me.

Context tells you whether the person is making a phone call or calling to someone who is nearby.

You can also use appeler when you call for someone or something:

French	English
Appelez un médecin !	Call a doctor!
Il appelle à l'aide.	He's calling for help.

The expression appeler à l'aide means "to call for help."

Giving someone or something a name

Use appeler + object + name when you say what you call someone or something:

French	English
Ils ont appelé leur fils Gabriel.	They called their son Gabriel.
On appelle cette région la Côte d'Azur.	This region is called the Côte d'Azur.
Tout le monde l'appelle Léo.	Everyone calls him Léo.

Someone chooses or uses the name in these sentences. The basic pattern is:

appeler + person or thing + name

Appeler quelqu'un + noun or adjective

Appeler can also mean to call or describe someone in a particular way:

French	English
Ne m'appelle pas idiot !	Don't call me an idiot!

The basic pattern is:

appeler + person + name or description

This use can describe a name, nickname, label, or description applied to someone.

Common expressions

Several common expressions extend the basic idea of calling.

appeler à l'aide

Use appeler à l'aide when someone calls for help:

French	English
Il a appelé à l'aide.	He called for help.

appeler quelqu'un par son prénom

Use appeler quelqu'un par son prénom when you refer to someone using their first name:

French	English
Vous pouvez m'appeler par mon prénom.	You can call me by my first name.

faire appel à

You may also encounter faire appel à, which is a separate expression built with the noun appel. It means to call on, turn to, or use someone or something for help or expertise:

French	English
Nous avons fait appel à un spécialiste.	We called on a specialist.

Because this expression uses faire, do not treat it as another conjugation of appeler.

Common mistakes with appeler

Do not add a preposition before the person you call

Appeler takes its person directly:

French	English
J'appelle Paul.	I'm calling Paul.

The basic pattern is appeler quelqu'un, without à or de between the verb and the person.

Do not confuse J'appelle Sophie ("I'm calling Sophie") with reflexive forms that express what someone is called. Those use s'appeler.

Keep the spelling change in mind

The spelling of appeler changes in forms such as:

Form	Example
j'appelle	J'appelle Marie.
tu appelles	Tu appelles ton ami.
il appelle	Il appelle le bureau.
ils appellent	Ils appellent leurs parents.

Forms with nous and vous keep a single l:

Form	Example
nous appelons	Nous appelons chaque semaine.
vous appelez	Vous appelez souvent ?

The doubled l keeps the pronunciation of the stem consistent in the forms where it appears.

Several verbs overlap with particular meanings of appeler. The differences become clearer when you focus on what kind of "calling" you mean:

Verb	English	When to use it
appeler	to call	Calling someone, calling out, or giving someone a name
téléphoner	to phone	Specifically making a telephone call
contacter	to contact	Getting in touch with someone by phone, email, or another method
nommer	to appoint, name	Giving a formal designation or appointing someone to a position

Téléphoner is particularly useful to compare with appeler. Unlike appeler quelqu'un, it uses à before the person:

French	English
J'appelle Paul.	I'm calling Paul.
Je téléphone à Paul.	I'm calling Paul.

Both can describe making a phone call, but their grammatical patterns are different.

From learning to practice

When you need a doctor or a taxi, Appelez un médecin ! or J'appelle un taxi work without pour or à before the person. Listen for whether appeler means a phone call or calling out across a room — context and tone usually make it clear.