What does je m'appelle literally mean?

I call myself. The verb is reflexive: the small word in the middle means myself.

How do you ask someone's name in French?

Comment tu t'appelles to someone you call tu, comment vous appelez-vous to someone you call vous.

French · phrasebook

How to say my name is in French

My name is in French is je m'appelle, followed by your name. Word for word it says I call myself: French uses a verb where English uses the noun name.

Aurélien CuvelierSep 19, 2026

je m'appelle

my name is

anyone

The ways to say it

je m'appelle

my name is

anyone

How to use it

It answers the question comment tu t'appelles, or its vous version comment vous appelez-vous. In the first exchange below a student introduces herself and asks the question back. In the second, a visitor gives her name at a reception desk before mentioning her appointment.

The exchanges also show a shorter, casual way to introduce yourself, used right next to the full phrase. Je m'appelle is the one that works everywhere, from a classroom to an office.

In a real conversation

Each exchange is a line and its reply. Greyed letters are written and not pronounced. A tie marks a liaison, with the sound you hear under it. A label under a verb names its tense when it is not the present.

Bonjour, je m'appelle Léa. Et toi, comment tu t'appelles ?Hello, my name is Lea. And you, what is your name?Moi, c'est Hugo. Tu es nouvelle dans la classe ?I'm Hugo. Are you new in the class?

Bonjour madame, je m'appelle Marie. J'ai rendez-vous à neuf heures.Hello madam, my name is Marie. I have an appointment at nine.Très bien, madame. Le directeur vous attend dans son bureau.Very good, madam. The director is waiting for you in his office.

Questions people ask

What does je m'appelle literally mean?: I call myself. The verb is reflexive: the small word in the middle means myself.
How do you ask someone's name in French?: Comment tu t'appelles to someone you call tu, comment vous appelez-vous to someone you call vous.

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Written by

Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck

Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck: the app, and the verification pipeline behind its dictionary. Every entry is grounded in the official TORFL lexical minimum and a 20,000-word frequency corpus, and every example sentence passes a certification review before it ships.

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