---
title: 1 Samuel 1:8 (JPS 1917) — And Elkanah her husband said unto her: 'Hannah, why weepest thou? an… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Elkanah her husband said unto her: 'Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?' Who acts: Elkanah, thou, I. 1 Samuel 1:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 1:8 · JPS 1917

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And Elkanah her husband said unto her: 'Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?'

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**Who acts:** Elkanah, thou, I · **What happens:** say, weep, not eat, grieve, not be · **To what, where:** heart · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 1:8 · 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 (Elkanah, thou, I), 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:1SA:8
# text = And Elkanah her husband said unto her: 'Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	Elkanah	Elkanah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
10	Hannah	Hannah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	vocative	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
13	weepest	weep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
14	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
18	eatest	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
19	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nsubj	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
25	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	grieved	grieve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	_
29	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
31	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	ccomp	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	32	obl	_	_
35	than	than	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	37	nummod	_	_
37	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	_
39	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Elkanah |  |  |  |  | unto Peninnah | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **weep** | present | thou |  |  |  |  | Hannah *vocative* | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **eat** | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **grieve** | present · passive |  | thy heart |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | to thee; than ten sons; good *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָ֜הּ אֶלְקָנָ֣ה אִישָׁ֗הּ חַנָּה֙ לָ֣מֶה תִבְכִּ֗י וְלָ֙מֶה֙ לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְלִ֔י וְלָ֖מֶה יֵרַ֣ע לְבָבֵ֑ךְ הֲל֤וֹא אָֽנֹכִי֙ ט֣וֹב לָ֔ךְ מֵעֲשָׂרָ֖ה בָּנִֽים׃

[1 Samuel 1:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.1.8/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:8` 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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