---
title: Esther 5:3 (JPS 1917) — Then said the king unto her: 'What wilt thou, queen Esther? for what… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said the king unto her: 'What wilt thou, queen Esther? for whatever thy request, even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be given thee.' Who acts: king, thy. Esther 5:3 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Esther 5:3 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then said the king unto her: 'What wilt thou, queen Esther? for whatever thy request, even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be given thee.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, thy · **What happens:** say, give, request · **To what, where:** request · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Esther 5:3 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, thy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:EST:83
# text = Then said the king unto her: 'What wilt thou, queen Esther? for whatever thy request, even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be given thee.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obj	_	_
10	wilt	will	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
11	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	10	nsubj	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	vocative	_	_
14	Esther	Esther	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	_
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	obl	_	_
18	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	even	even	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	19	nmod	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
33	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	32	obj	_	_
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
35	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed form=q, act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king |  |  |  | then | unto Esther | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **give** | shall · passive |  | request |  |  |  | for whatever | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: subject=Recipient thou=Theme for whatever=Asset |
| 3 | **request** |  | thy |  |  |  |  | to the half of the kingdom | nom request «communication transitive»: poss=agent to=obl |

<!-- .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.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָהּ֙ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ מַה־לָּ֖ךְ אֶסְתֵּ֣ר הַמַּלְכָּ֑ה וּמַה־בַּקָּשָׁתֵ֛ךְ עַד־חֲצִ֥י הַמַּלְכ֖וּת וְיִנָּ֥תֵֽן לָֽךְ׃

[Esther 5:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.5.3/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EST:83` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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