---
title: barbel — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «barbel» in the school dictionary: A barbel is a freshwater fish with whisker-like feelers at its mouth, which it uses to find food on the river bed. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# barbel

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** barbel, barbels, fishermen · **What happens:** be, use, find, lie, have, catch · **To what, where:** freshwater fish, food, river bed, thin feelers, feelers, large barbel

<!-- .vabout -->
«barbel» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 3 examples, 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: [barbel in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/barbel.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A barbel is a freshwater fish with whisker-like feelers at its mouth, which it uses to find food on the river bed.

<!-- fold The tree, 23 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barbel:m1:1
# text = A barbel is a freshwater fish with whisker-like feelers at its mouth, which it uses to find food on the river bed.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	barbel	barbel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	freshwater	freshwater	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	whisker	whisker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	feelers	feeler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	uses	use	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a barbel | a freshwater fish |  |  |  | with like feelers at barbel's mouth | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | present | barbel | a freshwater fish |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent which=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **find** | to-infinitive | barbel *not said here* | food |  | the river bed |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Topic |

<!-- .note -->
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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The barbels are these thin feelers themselves.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barbel:m2:1
# text = The barbels are these thin feelers themselves.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	barbels	barbel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
5	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	feelers	feeler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	6	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the barbels | this thin feelers |  |  |  | barbels *= barbel* *nmod:unmarked* | tree rules |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The barbel lay still on the river bed.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barbel:x1:1
# text = The barbel lay still on the river bed.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	barbel	barbel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past | the barbel |  |  | the river bed | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on bed=Location |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A barbel has feelers like whiskers near its mouth.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barbel:x2:1
# text = A barbel has feelers like whiskers near its mouth.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	barbel	barbel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	feelers	feeler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	near	near	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | a barbel | feelers |  |  |  | like whiskers near barbel's mouth | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feeler=Patient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fishermen caught a large barbel in the river.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barbel:x3:1
# text = The fishermen caught a large barbel in the river.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fishermen	fisherman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	barbel	barbel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | the fishermen | a large barbel |  | the river |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent barbel=Theme |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **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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