---
title: Emma's cousin nearly falls over laughing when she says vous to his d… — Tu or vous? Manners in French · tree and pragmatics
description: Emma's cousin nearly falls over laughing when she says vous to his dog. Why? Test 2 · ★ of lesson 5 «Tu or vous? Manners in French» 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 2 · ★ · Tu or vous? Manners in French

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Emma's cousin nearly falls over laughing when she says vous to his dog. Why?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cousin · **What happens:** fall, laugh, say · **To what, where:** vous, dog · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 2 · ★ of lesson 5 «Tu or vous? Manners in French» 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/5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french/#t2).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Emma's cousin nearly falls over laughing when she says vous to his dog.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french:t2:1
# text = Emma's cousin nearly falls over laughing when she says vous to his dog.
1	Emma	Emma	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	falls	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	over	over	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	advcl	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
11	vous	vous	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | present | Emma's cousin |  |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **laugh** | gerund | Emma's cousin *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | cousin | vous | Emma's dog |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent vous=Topic to dog=Recipient |

<!-- .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:* Why?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french:t2:2
# text = Why?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vous to a puppy is like bowing to it; pets get tu

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french:t2:o1:1
# text = Vous to a puppy is like bowing to it; pets get tu
1	Vous	Vous	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	puppy	puppy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	bowing	bow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	pets	pet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
13	tu	tu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	12	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bow** | present · progressive | Vous to a puppy |  | puppy |  |  |  | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to it=Theme |
| 2 | **get** | present | pets | tu |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tu=Stimulus |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dogs in Montreal only understand English

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french:t2:o2:1
# text = Dogs in Montreal only understand English
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	Montreal	Montreal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	understand	understand	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | infinitive | Dogs in Montreal | English |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer english=Stimulus |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She should have said madame to the dog

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french:t2:o3:1
# text = She should have said madame to the dog
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	madame	madame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | should · perfect | She | madame | the dog |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent madame=Topic to dog=Recipient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vous is a rude word that you must never say to dogs in Quebec

```conllu
# sent_id = question:french:5-tu-or-vous-manners-in-french:t2:o4:1
# text = Vous is a rude word that you must never say to dogs in Quebec
1	Vous	Vous	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obj	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Quebec	Quebec	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Vous | a rude word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | must | you | a rude word | dogs | Quebec |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent that=Topic to dog=Recipient |

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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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