---
title: They replied, “We would willingly have helped you, if we had not kno… — Three hundred Aesop’s fables · tree and pragmatics
description: They replied, “We would willingly have helped you, if we had not known who you were, and with whom you were fighting.” Who acts: Hare, We, you. A sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Three hundred Aesop’s fables, Aesop’s Fables, part 8, sentence 129

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They replied, “We would willingly have helped you, if we had not known who you were, and with whom you were fighting.”

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**Who acts:** Hare, We, you · **What happens:** reply, help, not know, be, fight · **To what, where:** you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Aesop’s Fables, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hare, We, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg21:10:129
# text = They replied, “We would willingly have helped you, if we had not known who you were, and with whom you were fighting.”
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
7	willingly	willingly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	helped	help	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	ccomp	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	2	advcl	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **help** *in a quote* | would · perfect | We |  | you |  |  | willingly *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **not** **know** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fight** *in a quote* | past · progressive | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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.

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**Text:** «Three hundred Aesop’s fables» by Aesop, Project Gutenberg book 21 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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