---
title: ★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks wh… — Plurals: les, des and silent s · tree and pragmatics
description: ★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different. What changed? Test 4 · ★ 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 w
---

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# Test 4 · ★ · Plurals: les, des and silent s

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different. What changed?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 3 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, boy, little sister, animaux · **What happens:** ★, say, ask, sound, change · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 · ★ 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/#t4).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* ★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t4:1
# text = ★ A boy says "un animal, deux animaux" and his little sister asks why it sounds different.
1	★	★	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	un	un	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	7	compound	_	_
7	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	deux	deux	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	animaux	animaux	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	sounds	sound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **★** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | a boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | boy's little sister |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **sound** | present | animaux |  |  |  |  | different *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 changed?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t4:2
# text = What changed?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	nsubj	_	_
2	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing, they sound the same

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t4:o1:1
# text = Nothing, they sound the same
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sound	sound	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | present | they | the same |  |  |  | Nothing *vocative* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location same=Theme |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The s at the end is now said aloud

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t4:o2:1
# text = The s at the end is now said aloud
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	s	s	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	aloud	aloud	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | the s at the end |  |  | now | aloud *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |

### Option 3 · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
-al became -aux, said "oh"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t4:o3:1
# text = -al became -aux, said "oh"
1	-	-	PUNCT	NFP	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	al	al	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
3	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	aux	aux	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | al | aux |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | al *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word got a new, feminine gender

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t4:o4:1
# text = The word got a new, feminine gender
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	feminine	feminine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	gender	gender	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | the word | a new feminine gender |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer gender=Stimulus |

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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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