---
title: Oscar wants to ask "you good?" in Mandarin. What does he say? — Mandarin compared with English · tree and pragmatics
description: Oscar wants to ask "you good?" in Mandarin. What does he say? Test 8 · ★ of lesson 34 «Mandarin compared with English» of the language 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 · ★ · Mandarin compared with English

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oscar wants to ask "you good?" in Mandarin. What does he say?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 1 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** Oscar · **What happens:** want, ask, say · **To what, where:** Mandarin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 8 · ★ of lesson 34 «Mandarin compared with English» of the language 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/language/34-mandarin-compared-with-english/#t8).

## The question {#question}

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Oscar wants to ask "you good?" in Mandarin.

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:1
# text = Oscar wants to ask "you good?" in Mandarin.
1	Oscar	Oscar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	Mandarin	Mandarin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | present | Oscar |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Oscar *not said here* |  |  | Mandarin |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* What does he say?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:2
# text = What does he say?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | Oscar |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## The options {#options}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
你好吗? (nǐ hǎo ma?)

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* 你好吗?

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:o1:1
# text = 你好吗?
1	你好吗	你好吗	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* (nǐ hǎo ma?)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:o1:2
# text = (nǐ hǎo ma?)
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	nǐ	nǐ	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	4	dep	_	_
3	hǎo	hǎo	X	FW	_	4	compound	_	_
4	ma	ma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	4	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
两本书 (liǎng běn shū)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:o2:1
# text = 两本书 (liǎng běn shū)
1	两本书	两本书	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	liǎng	liǎng	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	běn	běn	X	FW	_	5	compound	_	_
5	shū	shū	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **liǎng** | gerund | 两本书 | běn shū |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
人山人海 (rén shān rén hǎi)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:o3:1
# text = 人山人海 (rén shān rén hǎi)
1	人山人海	人山人海	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	rén	rén	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	appos	_	_
4	shān	shān	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	_
5	rén	rén	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	flat:foreign	_	_
6	hǎi	hǎi	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	1	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
好久不见 (hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn)

```conllu
# sent_id = question:language:34-mandarin-compared-with-english:t8:o4:1
# text = 好久不见 (hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn)
1	好久不见	好久不见	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	hǎo	hǎo	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	6	nsubj	_	_
4	jiǔ	jiǔ	X	FW	_	6	compound	_	_
5	bú	bú	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	6	compound	_	_
6	jiàn	jiàn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **jiàn** |  | hǎo |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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