---
title: What would happen if a French child read "les amis" with no z sound? — Plurals: les, des and silent s · tree and pragmatics
description: What would happen if a French child read "les amis" with no z sound? Test 8 · ★ 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 8 · ★ · Plurals: les, des and silent s

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What would happen if a French child read "les amis" with no z sound?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** French child · **What happens:** happen, read · **To what, where:** amis

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ 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/#t8).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t8:1
# text = What would happen if a French child read "les amis" with no z sound?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	read	read	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	les	les	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	amis	ami	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
15	z	z	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **read** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | a French child | les amis |  |  |  | with no z sound | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would sound choppy, but people would understand

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t8:o1:1
# text = It would sound choppy, but people would understand
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	sound	sound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	choppy	choppy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | would | It |  |  |  |  | choppy *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **understand** | would | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody would notice, there's never a z sound

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t8:o2:1
# text = Nobody would notice, there's never a z sound
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	notice	notice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	z	z	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **notice** | would | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **be** | present | a z sound |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would mean only one friend

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t8:o3:1
# text = It would mean only one friend
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It | one friend |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Topic |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It would mean "the enemies"

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s:t8:o4:1
# text = It would mean "the enemies"
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | would | It | the enemies |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

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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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- ← previous: [Plurals: les, des and silent s, test 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s/t7/)
- next →: [Plurals: les, des and silent s, test 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s/t9/)
- ↑ back to [Plurals: les, des and silent s](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/26-plurals-les-des-and-silent-s/)