Test 4 · ★ · Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u
A cartoon cat says "Je m'appelle Jam" with a hard "j", as in "jam". What is wrong?
Mova's choice: option 3 · The right answer: option 3 · right ✓ · Who acts: cartoon cat · What happens: say, be · Speech: someone speaks here
This is test 4 · ★ of lesson 2 «Funny French sounds: nasal vowels, the French r and u» of the French 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.
The question
Sentence 1: A cartoon cat says "Je m'appelle Jam" with a hard "j", as in "jam".
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 cat | det |
| 2 | cartoon | cartoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 cat | compound |
| 3 | cat | cat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | nsubj |
| 4 | says | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 Jam | punct |
| 6 | Je | Je | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 m'appelle | compound |
| 7 | m'appelle | m'appelle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 Jam | nmod:desc |
| 8 | Jam | Jam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 says | ccomp |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 Jam | punct |
| 10 | with | with | ADP | _ | 14 j | case |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 j | det |
| 12 | hard | hard | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 j | amod |
| 13 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 j | punct |
| 14 | j | J | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | obl |
| 15 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 14 j | punct |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 jam | punct |
| 17 | as | as | ADP | _ | 20 jam | case |
| 18 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 jam | case |
| 19 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 jam | punct |
| 20 | jam | jam | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 says | parataxis |
| 21 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 jam | punct |
| 22 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 says | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present | a cartoon cat | with a hard j | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
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.
Sentence 2: What is wrong?
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 wrong | nsubj |
| 2 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 wrong | cop |
| 3 | wrong | wrong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 wrong | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | wrong property | tree rules |
The options
Option 1
French j is silent at the start of words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | French | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 j | amod |
| 2 | j | J | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 silent | nsubj |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 silent | cop |
| 4 | silent | silent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 7 start | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 start | det |
| 7 | start | start | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 silent | obl |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 words | case |
| 9 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 start | nmod |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | French j | the start of words | silent property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | start | words | nom start «event transitive»: of=patient |
Option 2
Nothing, j is said the same in both languages
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 3 j | compound |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Nothing | punct |
| 3 | j | J | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 said | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 said | aux:pass |
| 5 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 same | det |
| 7 | same | same | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 said | obj |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 languages | case |
| 9 | both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 10 languages | det |
| 10 | languages | language | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 said | obl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present · passive | Nothing j | both languages | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme same=Manner |
Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer
French j is soft, like the "s" in "measure"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | French | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 j | amod |
| 2 | j | J | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 soft | nsubj |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 soft | cop |
| 4 | soft | soft | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 9 s | punct |
| 6 | like | like | ADP | _ | 9 s | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 s | det |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 s | punct |
| 9 | s | s | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 soft | parataxis |
| 10 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 s | punct |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 measure | case |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 measure | punct |
| 13 | measure | measure | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 soft | obl |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 measure | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | French j | measure | soft property | tree rules |
Option 4
French j is always said "y", as in "yes"
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | French | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 j | amod |
| 2 | j | J | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 said | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 said | aux:pass |
| 4 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 5 said | advmod |
| 5 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 y | punct |
| 7 | y | y | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 said | ccomp |
| 8 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 7 y | punct |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 yes | punct |
| 10 | as | as | ADP | _ | 13 yes | case |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 yes | case |
| 12 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 yes | punct |
| 13 | yes | yes | INTJ | Polarity=Pos | 5 said | obj |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 yes | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | present · passive | French j | always property | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme yes=Manner |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/french/2-funny-french-sounds-nasal-vowels-the-french-r-and-u/t4/