This is part of archived UD v1 documentation. See http://universaldependencies.org/ for the current version.
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Dependencies

Note: nmod, neg, and punct appear in two places.

Core dependents of clausal predicates
Nominal dep Predicate dep
nsubj csubj
nsubjpass csubjpass
dobj ccomp xcomp
iobj
Non-core dependents of clausal predicates
Nominal dep Predicate dep Modifier word
nmod advcl advmod
    neg
Special clausal dependents
Nominal dep Auxiliary Other
vocative aux mark
discourse auxpass punct
expl cop
Noun dependents
Nominal dep Predicate dep Modifier word
nummod acl amod
  acl:relcl
appos   det
nmod   neg
nmod:poss
Compounding and unanalyzed
compound mwe goeswith
name foreign
Coordination
conj cc punct
Case-marking, prepositions, possessive
case
Loose joining relations
list parataxis remnant
dislocated reparandum
Other
Sentence head Unspecified dependency
root dep

acl: clausal modifier of noun

acl is used for finite and non-finite clauses that modify a noun, including cases of secondary predication. Note that in French relative clauses get assigned a specific relation acl:relcl, a subtype of acl.

Non-relative clausal dependents of nouns are limited to complement clauses with a subset of nouns like fait (fact). We analyze them as acl (parallel to the analysis of this class as “content clauses” in Huddleston and Pullum 2002).

Comment est-ce que cela peut être réconcilié avec le fait que beaucoup de mariages cassent ? \n How can that be reconciled with the fact that many marriages break up?
acl(fait, cassent) 
Une photo de ce qui s'est passé \n A picture of what happens
acl(photo, passé)
Un culte nourri d'influences d'anciens mythes \n A cult nourrished with influences from old myths
acl(culte, nourri)

The acl relation is also used for secondary predicates modifying a nominal:

Il quitta la pièce pleurant . \n He left the room crying .
acl(Il, pleurant)

edit acl

acl:relcl: relative clause modifier

The acl:relcl relation is used for relative clauses modifying a nominal. The relation points from the head of the nominal to the head of the relative clause.

J'ai vu l' homme qui t' aime \n I saw the man who loves you
acl:relcl(homme, aime)
nsubj(aime, qui)
dobj(aime, t')

edit acl:relcl

advcl: adverbial clause modifier

An adverbial clause modifier is a clause which modifies a verb or other predicate (adjective, etc.), as a modifier not as a core complement. This includes things such as a temporal clause, consequence, conditional clause, purpose clause, etc. The dependent must be clausal (or else it is an advmod) and the dependent is the main predicate of the clause.

L'accident s'est produit quand il faisait noir \n The accident happened when it was dark
advcl(produit, faisait)
Si tu sais qui l'a fait, tu devrais le dire au professeur \n If you know who did it, you should tell the teacher
advcl(dire, sais)
Il faut venir tôt pour avoir de la place \n One needs to get there early to have a seat
advcl(venir, avoir)

edit advcl

advmod: adverbial modifier

An adverbial modifier of a word is a (non-clausal) adverb or adverbial phrase that serves to modify the meaning of the word.

Ca devrait être fortement souligné \n It should be strongly emphasised
advmod(souligné, fortement)
moins souvent \n less often
advmod(souvent, moins)
le jour le plus long \n the longest day
advmod(long, plus)

edit advmod

amod: adjectival modifier

An adjectival modifier of a nominal is any adjectival phrase that serves to modify the meaning of the nominal head.

Marc boit du vin rouge \n Marc drinks red wine
amod(vin, rouge)

edit amod

appos: appositional modifier

An appositional modifier of a noun is a nominal immediately following the first noun that serves to define or modify that noun. It includes parenthesized examples, as well as defining abbreviations in one of these structures.

Sam , mon frère , est arrivé \n Sam , my brother , arrived
appos(Sam, frère)
Appelation d'origine contrôlée  ( AOC )
appos(Appelation, AOC)

edit appos

aux: auxiliary

An auxiliary of a clause is a non-main verb of the clause.

Exception: An auxiliary verb used to construct the passive voice is not labeled aux but auxpass.

On peut nager dans le lac \n One can swim in the lake
aux(nager, peut)
Quelles conséquences cela a - t - il eu ? \n What consequences did this have ?
aux(eu, a)

edit aux

auxpass: passive auxiliary

A passive auxiliary of a clause is a non-main verb of the clause which contains the passive information.

Kennedy fut assassiné \n Kennedy was murdered
auxpass(assassiné, fut)

Other auxiliaries associated with the same main verb are not labeled auxpass but aux since they do not themselves indicate passive voice.

Kennedy a été assassiné \n Kennedy has been murdered
auxpass(assassiné, été)
aux(assassiné, a)

edit auxpass

case: case marking

The case relation is used for any preposition in French. Prepositions are treated as dependents of the noun they attach to or introduce in an “extended nominal projection”. Thus, UD does not treat a preposition as a mediator between a modified word and its object. The case relation aims at providing a uniform analysis of prepositions and case in morphologically rich languages.

Taxation individuelle de rentrée salariale \n Individual taxation of employment income
case(rentrée, de)
En attendant , asseyez-vous ici \n While waiting, seat down here
case(attendant, En)

edit case

cc: coordinating conjunction

A coordinating conjunction relation holds between the head conjunct of a coordinate structure and any of the coordinating conjunction involved in the structure. This also includes the first element in paired conjunctions like ni … ni “nor … nor”. Note that we never treat punctuation as coordinating conjunctions. For more on coordination, see the French conj relation as well as the universal dependency page (u-dep/conj).

1500 euros par an et par enfant \n 1500 euros per child and per year
cc(an, et)
conj(an, enfant)
Et ce n'est pas la peine d'insister \n And it is not worth insisting
cc(peine, Et)

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ccomp: clausal complement

A clausal complement of a verb or adjective is a dependent clause where the subject is not determined by obligatory control, either because the clause has its own overt subject or because the subject is arbitrary or determined anaphorically. (This contrasts with the xcomp relation, which is used for clausal complements with obligatory control.)

Il dit que tu aimes nager \n He says that you like to swim
ccomp(dit, aimes)
Je suis certain qu'il l'a fait \n I am certain that he did it 
ccomp(certain, fait) 

edit ccomp

compound: compound

compound in French is used for compounds like the following:

ambiance chalet \n
compound(ambiance, chalet)
début décembre  \n beginning (of) December
compound(début, décembre)

edit compound

conj: conjunct

The conjunct relation holds between coordinated elements. We treat coordination asymmetrically: The head of the relation is the first conjunct and other conjuncts depend on it via the conj relation.

1500 euros par an et par enfant \n 1500 euros per child and per year
conj(an, enfant)
Une seconde d' hésitation , d' inattention ou de retard  \n A second of hesitation, carelessness or delay
conj(hésitation, inattention)
conj(hésitation, retard)

edit conj

cop: copula

A copula is the relation between the complement of a copular verb and the copular verb. Copular heads are avoided when possible. For more on the cop relation, see the universal dependency description (u-dep/cop)

Bill est un homme honnête \n Bill is an honest man
cop(homme, est)
nsubj(homme, Bill)
amod(homme, honnête)
det(homme, un)

In the current French treebank, the following verbs are treated as copular ones: être, devenir, rester, demeurer, as well as in some constructions appeler, intituler, nommer, réputer, élir

edit cop

csubj: clausal subject

A clausal subject is a clausal syntactic subject of a clause, i.e., the subject is itself a clause. The governor of this relation might not always be a verb: when the verb is a copular verb, the root of the clause is the complement of the copular verb.

Ce qu'il dit m' embête . \n What he says bothers me .
csubj(embête, dit)

edit csubj

csubjpass: clausal passive subject

A clausal passive subject is a clausal syntactic subject of a passive clause. It is not a very common construction in French. In the example below, qu’il avait triché is the clausal subject.

Qu'il avait triché était cru par tout le monde . \n That he cheated was believed by everyone .
csubjpass(cru, triché)

edit csubjpass

dep: unspecified dependency

A dependency is labeled as dep when a more precise dependency relation between two words cannot be determined. This may be because of a weird grammatical construction, a limitation in software, a parser error, or because of an unresolved long distance dependency.

edit dep

det: determiner

A determiner is the relation between the head of a nominal phrase and its determiner.

Les fleurs sont magnifiques \n The flowers are beautiful
det(fleurs, Les)
Quel livre préfères-tu ? \n Which book do you prefer ?
det(livre, Quel)

A possessive determiner is marked with the nmod:poss relation:

Mon ami  \n My friend
nmod:poss(ami, Mon)

edit det

discourse: discourse element

This is used for interjections and other discourse particles and elements, which are not clearly linked to the structure of the sentence except in an expressive way.

Waouh , c' était fun :) \n Wow , that was fun :)
discourse(fun, :)-6)
discourse(fun, Waouh)
Bref , une occasion à ne pas laisser passer \n In short, an opportunity that should not be passed on
discourse(occasion, Bref)

edit discourse

dislocated: dislocated elements

The dislocated relation is used for fronted or postposed elements that do not fulfill the usual core grammatical relations of a sentence. Dislocated elements are attached to the same governor as the dependent that they double for.

This construction is quite frequent is spoken French. It has not been yet annotated in the French treebank.

Pierre je ne l' aime pas beaucoup  \n Peter I don't like him much
dislocated(aime, Pierre)
dobj(aime, l')

edit dislocated

dobj: direct object

A direct object is a nominal which is the (accusative) object of the verbal predicate.

Il mange un sandwich . \n He eats a sandwich .
dobj(mange, sandwich)

The dobj relation is also used for a reflexive pronoun in pronominal verb when the pronoun is a direct object of the verb. When the grammatical relation of the pronoun is not a direct object nor an indirect object (as in se douter “to suspect”), the pronoun gets analyzed as expl.

Il se lave . \n He washes himself .
dobj(lave, se)

edit dobj

expl: expletive

This relation captures expletive or pleonastic nominals. These are nominals that appear in an argument position of a predicate but which do not themselves satisfy any of the semantic roles of the predicate. There is further discussion and examples on the universal dependency page (u-dep/expl).

C' est la seule manière de réussir \n It' s the only way to succeed
expl(manière, C')

In Romance languages, pronouns in prominal verbs which do not have a semantic role are marked as expl such as se in se douter. In French the expl relation is also used for euphonic elements, such as l’ in e.g. et que l’on retrouve or t in a-t-il reçu mon email?

Note that currenlty expletives are not annotated consistently in the French treebank.

edit expl

foreign: foreign words

The foreign relation can be used to label sequences of foreign words. These are given a linear analysis: the head is the first token in the foreign phrase.

Cet homme était persona non grata \n This man was persona non grata
foreign(persona, non)
foreign(persona, grata)

edit foreign

goeswith: goes with

This relation links two parts of a word that are separated in text that is not well edited, or due to tokenization errors. The head is in some sense the main part.

This relation is not used in the French treebank.

Ils sont partis aujourd' hui  \n They left today
goeswith(aujourd', hui)

edit goeswith

iobj: indirect object

An indirect object is a nominal which corresponds to a dative object.

Il m' envoie une lettre . \n He sends me a letter .
iobj(envoie, m')

When the indirect object is realized with a preposition, it gets analyzed with the nmod relation:

Il envoie la lettre à la présidente . \n He sends the letter to the president .
nmod(envoie, présidente)
case(présidente, à)

The iobj relation is also used for pronouns in prononimal verbs which are indirect objects:

Il se parle tout haut. \n He speaks to himself out loud .
iobj(parle, se)

edit iobj

list: list

The list relation is used for chains of comparable items. It is not currently attested in the French treebank.

Web text often contains passages which are meant to be interpreted as lists but are parsed as single sentences. Email signatures in particular contain these structures, in the form of contact information: the different contact information items are labeled as list; the key-value pair relations are labeled as appos.

In lists with more than two items, all items of the list shoud modify the first one.

Steve Jones GSM: 555-9814 Email: jones@abc.edf
name(Steve-1, Jones-2)
list(Steve-1, GSM:-3)
list(Steve-1, Email:-5)
appos(GSM:-3, 555-9814-4)
appos(Email:-5, jones@abc.edf-6)

edit list

mark: marker

A marker is the word introducing a clause subordinate to another clause. The marker is a dependent of the subordinate clause head.

Il dit que tu aimes nager \n He says that you like to swim
mark(aimes, que)
S' il pleut, on sera mouillé \n If it rains, we will get wet
mark(pleut, S')

Prepositions introducing infinitives are also analyzed as mark.

Il faut arriver tôt pour avoir de la place \n One needs to get there early to have a seat
mark(avoir, pour)

edit mark

mwe: multi-word expression

The multi-word expression (modifier) relation is one of the three relations (compound, mwe, name) for compounding. It is used for certain fixed grammaticized expressions that behave like function words or short adverbials.

de toutes façons \n in any case
mwe(façons, de)
mwe(toutes, façons)
ainsi que \n 
mwe(que, ainsi)
avant de \n 
mwe(de, avant)

edit mwe

name: name

The name relation is one of the three relations for compounding in UD (together with compound and mwe). It is used for proper nouns constituted of multiple nominal elements. For example, name would be used between the words of Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York, or Carl XVI Gustaf but not to replace the usual relations in a phrasal or clausal name like The king of Belgium or the novels The Lord of the Rings and Captured By Aliens.

Words joined by name should all be part of a minimal noun phrase; otherwise regular syntactic relations should be used. This is basically similar to the treatment of noun compounds with compound, except that in many cases parts of the name may be another nominal element such as an adjective (United Airlines).

In general, names are annotated in a flat, head-initial structure, in which all words in the name modify the head using the name label.

Cervélo Test Team
name(Team, Cervélo)
name(Team, Test)

For names with a clear syntactic modification structure, the dependencies should instead reflect the syntactic modification structure using regular syntactic relations, as in:

<< La Belle et la Bête >> \n The Beauty and the Beast
conj(Belle, Bête)
cc(Belle, et)
det(Belle, La)
det(Bête, la)

edit name

neg: negation modifier

The negation modifier is the relation between a negation word and the word it modifies. Both elements of double negation are marked as neg. Note that in colloquial French, the first element of the double negation is often not present.

L'homme parfait n' existe pas \n The perfect man does not exist
neg(existe, pas)
neg(existe, n')
On ne le lâchera plus \n We will not let it go anymore
neg(lâchera, plus)
neg(lâchera, ne)

edit neg

nmod: nominal modifier

The nmod relation is used for nominal modifiers of nouns or clausal predicates. nmod is a noun functioning as a non-core (oblique) argument or adjunct. In French, nmod is used for prepositional complements as well as for temporal complements not introduced by a preposition.

Le résultat de la course \n The result of the race
nmod(résultat, course)
case(course, de)
Maman prend bien soin de ses enfants \n Mother takes good care of her children
nmod(soin, enfants)
case(enfants, de)
Il a grandi en Afrique \n He grew up in Africa
nmod(grandi, Afrique)
case(Afrique, en)
Il est utilisé pour le service \n It is used for the service
nmod(utilisé, service)
case(service, pour)
L' an passé, la compagnie a fait pas mal de bénéfices \n Last year, the company made quite a lot of benefit
nmod(fait, an)

edit nmod

nmod:poss: possessive nominal modifier

The relation nmod:poss is used for a possessive nominal modifier expressed by a possessive determiner (mon, ton, son, ma, ta, sa, mes, tes, ses, notre, votre, leur, nos, vos, leurs).

Toute notre vie  \n All our life
nmod:poss(vie, notre)

edit nmod:poss

nsubj: nominal subject

The dependency type nsubj marks nominal subjects of a clause. Subjects are direct dependents of the main predicate of the clause, which may be a verb, noun or adjective.

Le plus jeune participant a gagné la course . \n The youngest participant won the race .
nsubj(gagné, participant)
Papa est malade . \n Dad is sick .
nsubj(malade, Papa)
Maman est une bonne cuisinière . \n Mom is a good cook .
nsubj(cuisinière, Maman)

edit nsubj

nsubjpass: passive nominal subject

A passive nominal subject is a noun phrase which is the syntactic subject of a passive clause.

La course a été gagnée par le plus jeune participant . \n The race got won by the youngest participant .
nsubjpass(gagnée, participant)

edit nsubjpass

nummod: numeric modifier

A numeric modifier of a noun is any number phrase that serves to modify the meaning of the noun with a quantity.

Sam mangea 3 bonbons \n Sam ate 3 candies
nummod(bonbons, 3)
Il perdit presque 13 pourcent  \n He lost almost 14 percent
nummod(pourcent, 13)

Dates are annotated as follows: if present the month is the head, the day is nummod, and the year is nmod

Elle est née le 12 décembre 2011  \n She was born on December 12 2011
nmod(née, décembre)
nummod(décembre, 12)
nmod(décembre, 2011)
det(27, le)

edit nummod

parataxis: parataxis

The parataxis relation (from Greek for “place side by side”) is a relation between the main verb of a clause and other sentential elements, such as a sentential parenthetical, a clause after a “:” or a “;”, or two sentences placed side by side without any explicit coordination or subordination. More information can be found on the universal dependency page (u-dep/parataxis)

Les enfants jouent tout le temps, jouer est leur travail \n Children play all the time , play is their work  
parataxis(jouent, travail)
Les enfants ont le droit d'avoir du temps libre ( voir ci-dessous ) \n Children have a right to free time ( see below )
parataxis(ont, voir)
C'est l' idée : les enfants sont le futur \n That is the thought : children are the future
parataxis(idée, futur)

edit parataxis

punct: punctuation

This is used for any piece of punctuation in a clause, regardless of its function. The punctuation mark is attached to the head of the phrase or clause to which it belongs unless this introduces a non-projective dependency. More discussion on punctuation can be found on the universal dependency page (u-dep/punct).

Tous les bénéfices sont hors-taxe ! \n All profits are tax-free !
punct(hors-taxe, !)
S' il pleut , on sera mouillé . \n If it rains , we will get wet .
punct(pleut, ,)
punct(mouillé, .)

edit punct

remnant: remnant in ellipsis

The remnant relation is used to analyze cases of ellipsis where there is no function word that can be promoted to take the place of the elided content word. For a full discussion of its use, see the universal dependency description (u-dep/remnant).

Currently this construction is not correctly annotated in the French treebank.

Marie a été à Paris et Miriam à Prague \n Marie went to Paris and Miriam to Prague
nsubj(été-3, Marie-1)
nmod(été-3, Paris-5)
case(Paris-5, à-4)
cc(été-3, et-6)
remnant(Marie-1, Miriam-7)
case(Prague-9, à-8)
remnant(Paris-5, Prague-9)

edit remnant

reparandum: overridden disfluency

The reparandum relation is used to indicate disfluencies overridden in a speech repair. The disfluency is the dependent of the repair.

Currently this construction is not annotated in the French treebank (but there are probably no attested uses).

Va à-2 droi- à-4 gauche . \n Go to the righ- to the left .
nmod(Va, gauche)
reparandum(gauche, droi-)
case(droi-, à-2)

edit reparandum

root: root

The root grammatical relation points to the root of the sentence. A fake node ROOT is used as the governor. The ROOT node is indexed with 0, since the indexing of real words in the sentence starts at 1.

ROOT J' aime les frites . \n I love French fries .
root(ROOT, aime)
ROOT Il est grand . \n He is tall .
root(ROOT, grand)

edit root

vocative: vocative

The vocative relation is used to mark a dialogue participant addressed in text (common in conversations, emails and newsgroup postings). The relation links the addressee’s name to its host sentence.

Les gars , faites attention ! \n Guys , be careful !
vocative(faites, gars)
David , comment ça va ? \n David, how 's it going ?
vocative(va, David)

Note: the vocative relation is not currently annotated in the French data.

edit vocative

xcomp: open clausal complement

An open clausal complement (xcomp) of a verb or an adjective is a predicative or clausal complement without its own subject. The reference of the subject is necessarily determined by an argument external to the xcomp (normally by the object of the next higher clause, if there is one, or else by the subject of the next higher clause). These complements are always non-finite, and they are complements (arguments of the higher verb or adjective) rather than adjuncts/modifiers. The name xcomp is borrowed from Lexical-Functional Grammar.

Il dit que tu aimes nager \n He says that you like to swim
xcomp(aimes, nager)
Je compte y retourner \n I am planning to go back there
xcomp(compte, retourner)
Je le considère comme un ami \n I consider him as a friend
xcomp(considère, ami)

edit xcomp