---
title: ★ Why do bateau, oiseau and jeu all end in x in the plural? — Plurals: les, des and silent s · tree and pragmatics
description: ★ Why do bateau, oiseau and jeu all end in x in the plural? Test 3 · ★ of lesson 26 «Plurals: les, des and silent s» 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 3 · ★ · Plurals: les, des and silent s

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★ Why do bateau, oiseau and jeu all end in x in the plural?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **What happens:** end · **To what, where:** x

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 3 · ★ of lesson 26 «Plurals: les, des and silent s» 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/26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s/#t3).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t3:1
# text = ★ Why do bateau, oiseau and jeu all end in x in the plural?
1	★	★	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl:relcl	_	_
4	bateau	bateau	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	oiseau	oiseau	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	jeu	jeu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	advmod	_	_
10	end	end	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	x	x	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	plural	plural	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | present |  |  |  | x in the plural |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It's a random spelling mistake

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t3:o1:1
# text = It's a random spelling mistake
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	random	random	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	mistake	mistake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | It | a random spelling mistake |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are all masculine words

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t3:o2:1
# text = They are all masculine words
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	masculine	masculine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | masculine words |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Words ending in -eau and -eu take x

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t3:o3:1
# text = Words ending in -eau and -eu take x
1	Words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
2	ending	end	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	eau	eau	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	eu	eu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
9	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	x	x	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | gerund | Words *not said here* |  |  | eau and eu |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **take** | infinitive | Words | x |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent x=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They are all things that move fast

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t3:o4:1
# text = They are all things that move fast
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	move	move	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | They | things |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **move** | present | things |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=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.

<!-- /div -->

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