Appeler: Full Verb Reference

Appeler is the verb to call — to call on the phone, to call out to someone, to give a name, to summon, to designate. Its conjugation is regular -er in stem and endings, with one targeted spelling adjustment: the single l at the end of the stem (appel-) doubles to ll whenever the next syllable contains a silent e. J'appelle, with two l's. Nous appelons, with one. The doubling is a stress-rewriting device — same logic as acheter's grave accent, but using consonant-doubling instead of an accent.

Why? In Old French, the stem-internal e of appeler was a schwa, and the doubled ll was a way of marking that the previous e should be stressed. Modern French inherited the spelling — the ll is purely orthographic. The e before ll is pronounced /ɛ/ (the open e of père), exactly like the è in j'achète. The contrast: nous appelons /a.pə.lɔ̃/ — schwa or silent stem e, single l; j'appelle /ʒa.pɛl/ — stressed open e, double ll.

The -eler doubling pattern applies to most -eler verbs: appeler, rappeler, épeler, ensorceler, ficeler, étinceler, jumeler, ruisseler, atteler, niveler, renouveler. A small handful of -eler verbs (acheter is technically -eter, but consider also peler, geler, modeler, harceler) take the grave-accent pattern instead — see acheter for that pattern. Likewise for -eter verbs: most double the t (jeter → je jette), but a few take the grave (acheter → j'achète). You must memorize which verbs follow which pattern.

The verb itself is high-frequency, transitive (appeler quelqu'un) and reflexive (s'appeler — to be called / to be named). The reflexive s'appeler is one of the most-used French expressions because it's the standard way to introduce yourself: je m'appelle Marie (my name is Marie). The compound rappeler means to call back and to remind; it's just as common as the base verb. This page covers everything.

The simple tenses

These are the tenses formed without an auxiliary. Appeler is regular -er in endings, with the -eler doubling rule kicking in wherever the next syllable's e falls silent.

Présent de l'indicatif

Standard -er endings on the appel- stem, with the doubled ll in 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, and 3pl — but not in 1pl or 2pl, where the next-syllable e is pronounced.

The 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, and 3pl all sound identical (/apɛl/) — the silent endings -e, -es, -e, -ent don't add a syllable, so the stem e is stressed and the doubled ll signals that stress. In nous appelons and vous appelez, the e of the ending takes the stress, so the stem e falls silent (becoming a schwa or dropping in fast speech). Single l — no doubling needed.

Imparfait

The imparfait is built on the 1pl present stem appel- (the form with single l). All six imparfait forms therefore have a single l — the e of the imparfait endings (-ais, -ait, -aient, -ions, -iez) is always pronounced, which keeps the stem e silent.

Like with acheter, the imparfait is the cleanest tense for appeler: single l across all six persons. Pronunciation: /a.plɛ/ in all forms with silent endings.

Passé simple (literary)

Standard 1st-conjugation passé simple endings -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent. Built on the appel- stem — single l throughout, because all endings start with a vowel that gets pronounced.

Futur simple

This is the most distinctive part of appeler's paradigm. The futur stem is appeller- — built from the infinitive but with the doubled ll throughout all six persons. Why? Because the e of the futur ending (-erai, -eras, -era, -erons, -erez, -eront) is silent in pronunciation. The actual phonetic shape is /a.pɛl.ʁe/, /a.pɛl.ʁa/, etc. — the stem e must be stressed, hence the doubled ll.

This contrasts sharply with the imparfait, where every person has single l. In the futur, every person has double ll. The reason: the e immediately after the stem (the e of -er- in the infinitive) is silent in spoken French, so the previous e must be stressed.

Conditionnel présent

Same logic as the futur — same appeller- stem with double ll throughout, plus imparfait endings. Every person has double ll.

Subjonctif présent

Standard subjunctive endings on the present-tense stems. Same split as the present indicative: double ll in 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, 3pl (silent endings); single l in 1pl, 2pl (pronounced i-endings).

The 1pl appelions and 2pl appeliez are spelled identically to the imparfait — the single l is the giveaway that 1pl/2pl are unstressed.

Impératif

Three forms. The tu imperative drops the -s — appelle, not appelles (still with double ll, because the silent ending preserves the stress on the stem). The 1pl and 2pl forms come from the present indicative, both with single l.

In imperative + reflexive pronoun + hyphen constructions like appelle-moi (call me), the imperative form keeps the doubled ll.

Participles and gérondif

• Participe passé: appelé (regular -é; single l)
• Participe présent: appelant (single l — the -ant ending is pronounced)
• Gérondif: en appelant

The participle appelé shows past-participle agreement when used with avoir and a preceding direct object: les amis que j'ai appelés — masculine plural agreement appelés because the preceding direct object les amis is masculine plural.

The compound tenses

Appeler uses avoir as its auxiliary in all compound tenses. The reflexive s'appeler uses être — see below. The participle appelé has a single l (the é of the ending is pronounced, no doubling needed).

Passé composé

avoir (présent) + appelé

Plus-que-parfait

avoir (imparfait) + appelé

Futur antérieur

avoir (futur) + appelé

Conditionnel passé

avoir (conditionnel) + appelé

Subjonctif passé

avoir (subjonctif) + appelé

The major uses

1. Appeler + direct object — to call (someone, something)

The default transitive use. The person being called is a direct object, no preposition.

In je t'appelle un taxi, the pronoun t' is the indirect object (for you), and un taxi is the direct object — the construction is appeler X à quelqu'un (call X for someone), with the same dual-role à we saw with acheter (the recipient is for whom, not from whom in this case).

2. Appeler + name — to call (someone) by a name

Appeler with two object slots: a person + the name they're called.

The construction appeler X Y (call X by name Y) is a double-direct-object construction in French — both X and Y are direct objects.

3. S'appeler — to be called / to be named

This is the reflexive use, and it's the standard French construction for giving and asking names. It's one of the most-used French expressions in everyday life.

The literal translation of je m'appelle Sophie is "I call myself Sophie" — but the idiomatic English is "my name is Sophie." French uses the reflexive where English uses to be. This is a fundamental friction point for English speakers: je suis Sophie exists but means I am Sophie (identity statement, not introduction); je m'appelle Sophie is the standard introduction.

In compound tenses, s'appeler uses être (as all reflexive verbs do):

The reflexive can also mean to call each other (reciprocal):

4. Rappeler — to call back / to remind

The compound rappeler is just as common as appeler itself. It has two distinct meanings:

• To call back (on the phone): je te rappelle dans cinq minutes (I'll call you back in five minutes).
• To remind: rappelle-moi de prendre du pain (remind me to get bread).

Same conjugation pattern as appeler — the r- prefix doesn't change anything orthographically.

The construction rappeler quelque chose à quelqu'un (remind someone of something) takes a direct object (the thing) and an indirect object (the person reminded). With pronouns: ça me rappelle (it reminds me); je te le rappellerai (I'll remind you of it).

5. Appeler à — to call for, to appeal to

Appeler à + noun is a more formal construction, often in journalism or activism: appeler à l'aide (call for help), appeler à la grève (call for a strike), appeler à la prudence (call for caution).

High-frequency appeler idioms

• appeler les choses par leur nom — to call things by their name (to be direct, plain-spoken)
• appeler un chat un chat — to call a spade a spade (literally: to call a cat a cat)
• en appeler à — to appeal to (formal: j'en appelle à votre bon sens)
• appeler au secours / à l'aide — to call for help
• un appel manqué (related noun) — a missed call
• passer un appel / passer un coup de fil (colloquial) — to make a call
• tu peux m'appeler quand tu veux — you can call me anytime
• ça s'appelle… (idiomatic) — that's what's called… / there's a word for that

The construction ça s'appelle X — using the reflexive s'appeler with an inanimate subject — is a very common rhetorical device for naming and labeling behaviors, situations, or concepts.

The -eler family (doubling type)

Every -eler verb in this group follows the doubling rule. Here's the high-frequency core:

The pattern is identical: double ll in 1sg/2sg/3sg/3pl present, throughout futur and conditionnel; single l in 1pl/2pl present and throughout the imparfait. If you can conjugate appeler, you can conjugate every verb in this family.

The exceptions that take grave accent

A few -eler verbs (and one famous -eter verb, acheter) take the grave-accent pattern instead of the doubling pattern:

The 1990 spelling reform tried to standardize all these on the grave-accent pattern (so theoretically j'appèle, je jète), but in practice native speakers still overwhelmingly use the traditional doubling for appeler and jeter. Stick with the traditional spellings — they are universally accepted and what you'll see in print.

Comparison with English

Three friction points:

1. Double-l in writing. English has no equivalent rule. Forgetting one of the l's (j'apele instead of j'appelle) is a stigmatized spelling error. Even worse: writing j'appelerai instead of j'appellerai in the futur — the doubling must be present in every futur and conditionnel form, not just the present.

2. Reflexive for naming. English uses to be for naming (my name is Sophie / I am called Sophie). French uses the reflexive s'appeler (je m'appelle Sophie). This is the canonical introduction phrase, and learners must override the strong English instinct to say je suis Sophie (which means I'm Sophie — identity, not introduction; acceptable but rarer in introductions).

3. No phrasal verbs for call back / call up. English uses particles (call back, call up, call out, call off). French uses morphology — different verbs for different meanings: rappeler (call back / remind), appeler (call), crier (call out), annuler (call off). There's no single appeler

   • particle pattern.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Forgetting the double l in singular forms.

Mistake 2: Using je suis for introductions instead of je m'appelle.

Mistake 3: Single l in futur or conditionnel.

Mistake 4: Adding double l to 1pl/2pl present.

Mistake 5: Confusing appeler (transitive) with téléphoner (intransitive + à).

Key takeaways

Appeler is a regular -er verb meaning to call. It uses avoir in all compound tenses (j'ai appelé); the reflexive s'appeler uses être (on s'est appelés tous les jours). The conjugation contains exactly one quirk: the -eler doubling rule, which doubles the stem-final l before any silent ending. This affects 1sg/2sg/3sg/3pl present (j'appelle, tu appelles, il appelle, ils appellent), the entire futur (j'appellerai, tu appelleras, il appellera, nous appellerons, vous appellerez, ils appelleront), the entire conditionnel (j'appellerais, etc.), and the same singular + 3pl in the subjunctive. The 1pl/2pl present forms (nous appelons, vous appelez), the entire imparfait (j'appelais, etc.), and the participle (appelé) carry single l — their endings are pronounced, so the stem e falls silent and no doubling is needed.

The signature use is the reflexive s'appeler for naming: comment tu t'appelles ? / je m'appelle Marie — this is how French introduces and asks for names. English speakers must override the instinct to say je suis Marie (which works for identity but is unusual for self-introduction). The compound verb rappeler has two meanings — to call back and to remind — and both are everyday-frequent.

The doubling pattern applies to most -eler and -eter verbs (appeler, rappeler, épeler, renouveler, jeter, rejeter, projeter), but a small group takes the grave-accent pattern instead (acheter, peler, geler, modeler, harceler). You must memorize which pattern each verb uses; appeler is the canonical doubler.