---
title: Genesis 40:8 (JPS 1917) — And they said unto him: 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is none… · tree and pragmatics
description: And they said unto him: 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.' And Joseph said unto them: 'Do not interpretations belong to God? tell it me, I pray you.' Who acts: officers, We, none, Joseph. Genesis 40:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# Genesis 40:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they said unto him: 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.' And Joseph said unto them: 'Do not interpretations belong to God? tell it me, I pray you.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** officers, We, none, Joseph, interpretations, I · **What happens:** say, dream, be, interpret, not belong, tell · **To what, where:** dream, God, me, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 40:8 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (officers, We, none, Joseph), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:GEN:1281
# text = And they said unto him: 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.' And Joseph said unto them: 'Do not interpretations belong to God? tell it me, I pray you.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
8	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	dreamed	dream	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
16	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
17	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	16	nsubj	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	interpret	interpret	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
23	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
24	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	_
31	Do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
33	interpretations	interpretation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
34	belong	belong	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	ccomp	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	_
38	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	parataxis	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	iobj	_	_
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	parataxis	_	_
44	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
46	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: other
- act: other
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed form=other, act=other

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | officers *= officer* |  |  |  |  | unto Joseph | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **dream** | present · perfect | We | a dream |  |  |  |  | vn cognize-85 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dream=Topic |
| 3 | **be** | present | none |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **interpret** | can |  | dream |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Joseph |  |  |  |  | unto officers *= officer* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **belong** | present · do-support | interpretations |  | God |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  | dream | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient it=Topic |
| 8 | **pray** | present | I | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֔יו חֲל֣וֹם חָלַ֔מְנוּ וּפֹתֵ֖ר אֵ֣ין אֹת֑וֹ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֜ם יוֹסֵ֗ף הֲל֤וֹא לֵֽאלֹהִים֙ פִּתְרֹנִ֔ים סַפְּרוּ־נָ֖א לִֽי׃

[Genesis 40:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.40.8/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:1281` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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