---
title: Genesis 44:20 (JPS 1917) — And we said unto my lord: We have a father, an old man, and a child… · tree and pragmatics
description: And we said unto my lord: We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. Who acts: we, brother, father. Genesis 44:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Genesis 44:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And we said unto my lord: We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.

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**Who acts:** we, brother, father · **What happens:** say, have, be, leave, love · **To what, where:** father, lord · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 44:20 · 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 (we, brother, father), 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:1459
# text = And we said unto my lord: We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
33	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
38	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
47	loveth	love	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
48	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | we |  |  |  |  | unto my lord | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | present | We | a father and a old man and a child of lord's old age |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | present | lord's brother |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **leave** | present · passive |  | lord |  |  |  | of lord's mother | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location PP.destination»: subject=Source of mother=Destination |
| 5 | **love** | present | lord's father | lord |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
וַנֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־אֲדֹנִ֔י יֶשׁ־לָ֙נוּ֙ אָ֣ב זָקֵ֔ן וְיֶ֥לֶד זְקֻנִ֖ים קָטָ֑ן וְאָחִ֨יו מֵ֜ת וַיִּוָּתֵ֨ר ה֧וּא לְבַדּ֛וֹ לְאִמּ֖וֹ וְאָבִ֥יו אֲהֵבֽוֹ׃

[Genesis 44:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.44.20/)

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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:1459` 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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- ← previous: [Genesis 44:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1458/)
- next →: [Genesis 44:21 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1460/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 44:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.44.20/)