955
In some older learning material I came across, they use 「電話をかける」 for "to make
a telephone call". When/why did this come to be replaced by 「電話する」 in popular
usage?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-08T01:33:54.947
776
2015-09-14T03:52:35.507
2015-09-14T03:52:35.507
22
question
verbs history idioms
When/why did 電話する replace 電話をかける?
I feel like 電話をかける is more formal when writing. And there is 電話のかけ方 (How to
make a call) but I don't think people use 電話し方.

But of course there is Keigo usage like お電話させていただきます, 電話する would be more
popular.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-08T01:46:55.633
777
2011-06-08T01:46:55.633
100
776
answer
It randomly occurred to me today that while these are indeed similar in
meaning, they are not always interchangeable. If you're talking about making a
call **to** someone/somewhere, either can be used:

> 事務所 **に** 電話する call the office
>
> 事務所 **に** 電話をかける call the office

But 電話する can also be a joint action. Consider the following:

> 彼氏 **と** 電話する talk on the phone with one's boyfriend
>
> 彼氏 **と** 電話をかける (?)

(Technically you could argue that the second sentence is grammatically
correct, but the picture it gives is that of two people dialing the same phone
together, so it doesn't match the meaning of the first.)

So while 電話する can be used in both a directional (calling to someone/somewhere)
and a joint (talking on the phone with someone) sense, 電話をかける can only be used
in a directional sense.

As a **purely speculatory** note, it may be that 電話する is more common today
because it covers more cases than 電話をかける, which may lead you to think that
電話をかける is on the way out.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-10T17:24:47.637
955
2011-06-10T17:24:47.637
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
94
776
answer
In the older usage, 電話 is the noun, and をかける is the verb. That is, the act of
using a telephone.

Nowadays, we just add the ending するto 電話 in order to making "telephone" a
verb. That is, the act of "telephoning."
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-10T20:44:41.000
958
2011-06-10T20:50:50.857
2011-06-10T20:50:50.857
309
309
776
answer