---
title: Ethan asks, "Is he boasting about his tea?" when a boy says "J'ai eu… — Dates and birthdays · tree and pragmatics
description: Ethan asks, "Is he boasting about his tea?" when a boy says "J'ai eu dix ans hier !" What did the boy mean? Test 9 · ★ of lesson 11 «Dates and birthdays» of the French course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right
---

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# Test 9 · ★ · Dates and birthdays

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Ethan asks, "Is he boasting about his tea?" when a boy says "J'ai eu dix ans hier !" What did the boy mean?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 4 · **The right answer:** option 4 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Ethan, boy · **What happens:** ask, boast, say, mean · **To what, where:** J'ai · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 9 · ★ of lesson 11 «Dates and birthdays» of the French course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/11-dates-and-birthdays/#t9).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Ethan asks, "Is he boasting about his tea?" when a boy says "J'ai eu dix ans hier !"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:11-dates-and-birthdays:t9:1
# text = Ethan asks, "Is he boasting about his tea?" when a boy says "J'ai eu dix ans hier !"
1	Ethan	Ethan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	boasting	boast	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
13	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	16	mark	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	J'ai	J'ai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	eu	eu	X	FW	_	20	compound	_	_
20	dix	dix	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	18	flat:foreign	_	_
21	ans	ans	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	22	flat:foreign	_	_
22	hier	hier	X	FW	_	18	conj	_	_
23	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | Ethan |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **boast** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present · progressive | Ethan |  |  |  |  | about Ethan's tea | vn complain-37.8 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about tea=Topic |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a boy | J'ai |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent j'ai=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What did the boy mean?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:11-dates-and-birthdays:t9:2
# text = What did the boy mean?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | past · do-support | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He ate ten things yesterday

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:11-dates-and-birthdays:t9:o1:1
# text = He ate ten things yesterday
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | He | ten things |  |  | yesterday |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Patient |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He has had ten teas

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:11-dates-and-birthdays:t9:o2:1
# text = He has had ten teas
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	teas	tea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present · perfect | He | ten teas |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tea=Patient |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He's ten days old

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:11-dates-and-birthdays:t9:o3:1
# text = He's ten days old
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | He |  |  |  | day | old *property* | tree rules |

### Option 4 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He turned ten yesterday

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:11-dates-and-birthdays:t9:o4:1
# text = He turned ten yesterday
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obj	_	_
4	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | He | ten |  |  | yesterday |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent ten=Theme |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **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 text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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