à vs no à

Question

When do I use the à?In the examples they  used à and didn’t use à and they both mean he’s going to call his parents. So how do I know when I should use à?

Accepted Answer

Hi Katherine,
It all depends on the verb you use -
To use an easy example like to call someone 
you can say-
"Je vais les appeler"  ( using the direct object pronoun 'les')
because the verb is appeler quelqu'un 
but if you use the verb téléphoner à quelqu'un which takes an à it will be -
"Je vais leur téléphoner" (using an indirect object pronoun 'leur').
Look out for lists of verbs ( and there are many!) which are followed by à which are being prepared as we speak.
Hope this helps!