---
title: So the old man laughed and said: “I can give you a bride, oh, as man… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the old man laughed and said: “I can give you a bride, oh, as many brides as you like”; and they then came to a lake. Who acts: old man, you, men. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/9/128/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/9/) / 128

# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 9, sentence 128

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the old man laughed and said: “I can give you a bride, oh, as many brides as you like”; and they then came to a lake.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old man, you, men · **What happens:** laugh, say, give, like, come · **To what, where:** bride, you, lake · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, you, men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:9:128
# text = So the old man laughed and said: “I can give you a bride, oh, as many brides as you like”; and they then came to a lake.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	12	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	as	as	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	brides	bride	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
30	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **give** *in a quote* | can | the old man *= man* | a bride | you |  |  | as many brides | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient bride=Theme |
| 4 | **like** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **come** | past | men *= man* |  |  | a lake | then |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to lake=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/9/127/)
- next →: [sentence 129](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/9/129/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/9/)