Telefonáltam

Telefonáltam is the first-person singular past tense form of the Hungarian verb telefonálni, meaning to telephone or to call by phone. It translates to “I called” or “I phoned” in English and denotes a completed action in the past.

Form and usage: Telefonálni is a regular -álni verb. The past tense for the first person singular is formed by adding the suffix -tam to the stem, yielding telefonáltam. This form is used in standard narrative and conversation to indicate that the speaker performed a phone call previously. When specifying the recipient, Hungarian often uses the dative suffix -nak/-nek with a noun or pronoun, as in telefonáltam neki (I called him/her) or telefonáltam anyámnak (I called my mother).

Context and nuance: As a simple past tense, telefonáltam is used without specifying the time if it is understood from context, or it can be combined with time expressions such as Tegnap (yesterday) or Ma (today) to indicate when the call occurred. It does not itself convey the outcome of the call; additional information may be provided in follow-up sentences.

Examples:

- Tegnap telefonáltam. (I called yesterday.)

- Anyámnak telefonáltam. (I called my mother.)

- Barátomnak telefonáltam délután. (I called my friend this afternoon.)

See also: related forms include telefonálni (to phone), telefonálás (phoning, making a call), and other person forms such as telefonáltál (you called) and telefonált (he/she called).