llamó

Llamó is the third-person singular preterite indicative form of the Spanish verb llamar. It corresponds to English “he called” or “she called” and is used to indicate a completed action in the past. Llamar means to call, either to phone someone or to name or designate something or someone.

Etymology and form: Llamar derives from Latin clamāre, through Vulgar Latin into Old Spanish. The form llamó is distinguished from the present tense llamo by the accent on the final syllable, which marks the past tense and the stress pattern of the word.

Conjugation and usage: In the preterite, the full set for llamar is: yo llamé, tú llamaste, él/ella/Ud. llamó, nosotros llamamos, vosotros llamasteis, ellos llamaron. The accent on -ó is essential to its correct pronunciation and meaning. Llamó is used with direct objects or prepositional phrases such as llamar a alguien (to call someone) or llamar por teléfono (to call on the telephone). It can also mean to name or designate, as in llamar a una obra by a title.

Examples: Ayer, Marta llamó por teléfono a su madre. El director llamó a una reunión para discutir el proyecto. La película fue llamada “Éxodo” por la crítica.

Phonology: The digraph ll has historically represented a palatal sound, which varies by dialect and may be pronounced as /ʝ/, /ʎ/, or merged with /j/ in many varieties of Spanish.