Does the form of spelling Appelle change with the gender of the person speaking?

MeherA2Kwiziq community member

Does the form of spelling Appelle change with the gender of the person speaking?

Asked 6 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer
Bonjour Meher et Lisa !

Verbs conjugation depend on the number of the "person" (je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles) - i.e. singular or plural - but not its gender in most tenses:
Il s'appelle Marc et elle s'appelle Lucie.

As Lisa pointed out, the gender only affects the past participle in compound tenses, BUT the case she quoted is actually incorrect:
indeed, you only agree the past participle's gender and number when the verb uses "être" in compound tenses, and not "avoir".
Therefore, here there would be no agreement:
il a appelé / elle a appelé            ->     he called / she called

However, you would use "être" with reflexive verbs such as s'appeler, so there would be agreement here:
Il s'est appelé Marc et elle s'est appelée Lucie.

Though you wouldn't often say "His name was (once) Marc and her name was (once) Lucie." !

Here is a link to our lesson on past participle agreement:
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/agree-past-participle-with-subjects-gender-and-number-with-etre-verbs-in-le-passe-compose-conversational-past

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
LisaB2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Hi Meher, Not in the conjugated forms of the verb, like the present tense and other tenses. Jane and John both say Je m'appelle and all the other endings are not gendered. However in one instance it would change, that is the past participle. So, in the passé composé, if "he called," you would say "il a appelé" in French. If she called, then it is appelée, and add an 's' if it is they.

Does the form of spelling Appelle change with the gender of the person speaking?

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