Conjugating the Reflexive Spanish Verb Llamarse (to Call Oneself)

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like llamarse, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

Llamarse (yah-mahr-seh) (to call oneself) is a regular reflexive -ar verb; remember that reflexive verbs require reflexive pronouns. Here’s the present tense conjugation:

Though llamar can also mean “to phone,” its reflexive form means “to call oneself” in the sense of stating one’s name. The following examples show you llamarse in action:

• Me llamo Fred. (I call myself Fred. [My name is Fred.])

• Se llama Antonio. (His name is Antonio.)

Need to know how to conjugate llamarse in another tense? The following tables show you the preterit, imperfect, and future forms.

You use the preterite tense like this:

• ¿Te llamaron de la oficina? (Did they call you from the office?)

• Sí. Me llamaron para darme los boletos. (Yes. They call me to give the tickets.)

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

• ¿Se llamaban ustedes por teléfono? (Did you used to call each other by phone?)

• Si. Nos llamábamos por teléfono. (Yes. We used to call each other by phone.)

The following samples put the future tense to work:

• ¿Me llamarás esta noche? (Will you call me tonight?)

• No. Rosa te llamará mañana. (No. Rosa will call you tomorrow.)