---
title: couldest — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «couldest» in the Early Modern English dictionary: Was able to, with "thou" as the subject. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# couldest

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**Who acts:** Thou · **What happens:** be, wish, go · **To what, where:** ball · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«couldest» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 1 example, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [couldest in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/couldest.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Was able to, with "thou" as the subject.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:couldest:m1:1
# text = Was able to, with "thou" as the subject.
1	Was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	_
2	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
9	as	as	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

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"Thou wishest thou couldest go to the ball, is it not so?"

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From The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault.

<!-- fold The tree, 12 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:couldest:x1:1
# text = "Thou wishest thou couldest go to the ball, is it not so?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wishest	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	nsubj	_	_
5	couldest	could	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** *in a quote* | present | Thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | could | thou |  |  | the ball |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to ball=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | ball |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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