This article describes a set of analytical tools for dialogue , focused on the pragmatic and rhetorical aspects that we consider fundamental to a dialogue hermeneutic. We first recall our guiding principles: the goals and strategies of dialogue goals strategies that lead to choosing types of speech acts, rhetorical relations and topics which allow dialogue to be structured and speech acts to be articulated in dialogue pragmatics . After presenting definitions of these notions and their application, we examine a real-life dialogue between a doctor and a patient. Following this analysis we conclude with the methodological and interpretive interests that this analysis serves. In particular, we show that it provides a contextual and actional dimension to linguistic analysis which is usually made on purely lexical or syntactic grounds.