chamarse

Chamarse is a reflexive verb used in Portuguese to express being named or calling oneself by a name. The infinitive form is chamar-se, and it is used with a reflexive pronoun: eu me chamo, tu te chamas, ele se chama. In both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, chamar-se serves as the standard way to state one’s own name.

Usage and examples: It is used to introduce oneself, as in “Eu me chamo Maria” or “Chamo-me Maria.” In informal speech you may hear questions such as “Como você se chama?” or “Como te chamas?” to ask for someone’s name; the exact form depends on regional variation in pronouns. The form also appears in past contexts to express that one called oneself something in the past, for example, “eu me chamei,” though this is less common in everyday introductions.

Relation to other languages: In Spanish, the standard equivalent is “llamarse.” Chamarse is not part of standard Spanish and is usually encountered only as a regional variant, a loanword, or in bilingual contexts influenced by Portuguese or Galician.

Etymology: Chamarse derives from chamar “to call, to name” with the reflexive pronoun se, and is cognate with French s’appeler and Italian chiamarsi. The root chamar comes from Latin clamare “to cry out, to name.”