Breakdown of Comment vous appelez-vous ? Je m'appelle Marie.
s'appeler
to be called
comment vous appelez-vous
what is your name? (formal)
Questions & Answers about Comment vous appelez-vous ? Je m'appelle Marie.
Why are there two vous in vous appelez-vous?
The first vous means "yourself", and the second vous means "you". In formal French questions, the subject (vous) and the verb (appelez) swap places. Literally, this asks "How (do) yourself call you?". If it wasn't inverted for a question, it would be vous vous appelez (you call yourself).
Why does the question use Comment (how) instead of asking 'what'?
Why does appelez have one 'l' but appelle has two?
What does the m' in Je m'appelle stand for?
It stands for me, which is the pronoun meaning "myself" (literally "I call myself Marie"). Because appelle starts with a vowel, the 'e' in me is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe so the words flow together easily.
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