How to Conjugate "Téléphoner" (to Call) in French

As you might expect, the French verb téléphoner means "to call" or "to telephone." Unlike the verb appeler, which also means "to call," this one refers specifically to a telephone conversation.

In order to properly use téléphoner to say things such as "he called" or "I am calling," you will need to know how to conjugate the verb. The good news is that this is a regular verb, so not only is it easy to memorize, it's also relatively easy to conjugate. A brief lesson will show you how that's done.

The Basic Conjugations of Téléphoner

In comparison to other French verbs, téléphoner is one of the easier verb conjugations to study. That's because this is a regular -er verb, meaning it uses a very common pattern as you move from one form of the verb to another.

As with all regular verbs, you will add a variety of endings to the verb stem (or radical) to form each conjugation. The catch with the French language is that there is a new ending for every subject pronoun within each tense, giving you more words to memorize.

The radical of téléphoner is téléphon-. Using the chart, you can see which ending you need to add to that for your sentence. For example, "I am calling" is je téléphone and "we will call" is nous téléphonerons.

	Present	Future	Imperfect
je	téléphone	téléphonerai	téléphonais
tu	téléphones	téléphoneras	téléphonais
il	téléphone	téléphonera	téléphonait
nous	téléphonons	téléphonerons	téléphonions
vous	téléphonez	téléphonerez	téléphoniez
ils	téléphonent	téléphoneront	téléphonaient

The Present Participle of Téléphoner

When you add -ant to the radical of téléphoner, you get the present participle téléphonant. It is a verb, though in some situations you may also use it as an adjective, gerund, or noun.

Téléphoner in the Compound Past Tense

The past tense can be either the imperfect or the passé composé, which is a compound. To form this, you'll need to conjugate the auxiliary verb avoir to the present tense, then attach the past participle téléphoné. For example, "I called" is j'ai téléphoné and "we called" is nous avons téléphoné.

More Simple Conjugations of Téléphoner

There are a few more simple conjugations of téléphoner that you may need at times. The subjunctive, for instance, calls the act into question while the conditional says it's dependent on something else. The literary tenses of the passé simple and the imperfect subjunctive are also good to know because you may encounter them while reading.

	Subjunctive	Conditional	Passé Simple	Imperfect Subjunctive
je	téléphone	téléphonerais	téléphonai	téléphonasse
tu	téléphones	téléphonerais	téléphonas	téléphonasses
il	téléphone	téléphonerait	téléphona	téléphonât
nous	téléphonions	téléphonerions	téléphonâmes	téléphonassions
vous	téléphoniez	téléphoneriez	téléphonâtes	téléphonassiez
ils	téléphonent	téléphoneraient	téléphonèrent	téléphonassent

The imperative form is used for very direct sentences and often used alone, so the subject pronoun is not required. In this instance, it's perfectly acceptable to shorten tu téléphone to téléphone.

	Imperative
(tu)	téléphone
(nous)	téléphonons
(vous)	téléphonez