diff --git a/spacy/syntax/ner.pxd b/spacy/syntax/ner.pxd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..da8163e51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spacy/syntax/ner.pxd
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+from cymem.cymem cimport Pool
+
+from thinc.typedefs cimport weight_t
+
+
+from ._state cimport State 
+
+
+cdef struct Transition:
+    int clas
+    int move
+    int label
+    int cost
+    weight_t score
+
+
+cdef class TransitionSystem:
+    cdef Pool mem
+    cdef readonly int n_moves
+    cdef dict label_ids
+
+    cdef const Transition* _moves
+
+    cdef Transition best_valid(self, const weight_t* scores, const State* s) except *
+    cdef Transition best_gold(self, Transition* guess, const weight_t* scores,
+                              const State* s,
+                              const int* gold_heads, const int* gold_labels) except *
+    cdef int transition(self, State *s, const Transition* t) except -1
diff --git a/spacy/syntax/ner.pyx b/spacy/syntax/ner.pyx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b66bd11fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spacy/syntax/ner.pyx
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from ._state cimport State
+from ._state cimport has_head, get_idx, get_s0, get_n0
+from ._state cimport is_final, at_eol, pop_stack, push_stack, add_dep
+from ._state cimport head_in_buffer, children_in_buffer
+from ._state cimport head_in_stack, children_in_stack
+
+from ..structs cimport TokenC
+
+
+DEF NON_MONOTONIC = True
+DEF USE_BREAK = True
+
+
+cdef enum:
+    MISSING
+    BEGIN
+    IN
+    LAST
+    UNIT
+    OUT
+    N_MOVES
+
+
+cdef int is_valid(ActionType act, int label, State* s) except -1:
+    if act == BEGIN:
+        return not entity_is_open(s)
+    elif act == IN:
+        return entity_is_open(s) and s.curr.label == label
+    elif act == LAST:
+        return entity_is_open(s) and s.curr.label == label
+    elif act == UNIT:
+        return not entity_is_open(s)
+    elif act == OUT:
+        return not entity_is_open(s)
+    else:
+        raise UnknownMove(act, label)
+
+
+cdef bint is_gold(ActionType act, int tag, ActionType g_act, int g_tag,
+                 ActionType next_act, bint is_sunk):
+    if g_act == MISSING:
+        return True
+    if act == BEGIN:
+        if g_act == BEGIN:
+            # B, Gold B --> Label match
+            return tag == g_tag
+        else:
+            # B, Gold I --> False (P)
+            # B, Gold L --> False (P)
+            # B, Gold O --> False (P)
+            # B, Gold U --> False (P)
+            return False
+    elif act == IN:
+        if g_act == BEGIN:
+            # I, Gold B --> True (P of bad open entity sunk, R of this entity sunk)
+            return True
+        elif g_act == IN:
+            # I, Gold I --> True (label forced by prev, if mismatch, P and R both sunk)
+            return True
+        elif g_act == LAST:
+            # I, Gold L --> True iff this entity sunk and next tag == O
+            return is_sunk and (next_act == OUT or next_act == MISSING)
+        elif g_act == OUT:
+            # I, Gold O --> True iff next tag == O
+            return next_act == OUT or next_act == MISSING
+        elif g_act == UNIT:
+            # I, Gold U --> True iff next tag == O
+            return next_act == OUT
+    elif act == LAST:
+        if g_act == BEGIN:
+            # L, Gold B --> True
+            return True
+        elif g_act == IN:
+            # L, Gold I --> True iff this entity sunk
+            return is_sunk
+        elif g_act == LAST:
+            # L, Gold L --> True
+            return True
+        elif g_act == OUT:
+            # L, Gold O --> True
+            return True
+        elif g_act == UNIT:
+            # L, Gold U --> True
+            return True
+    elif act == OUT:
+        if g_act == BEGIN:
+            # O, Gold B --> False
+            return False
+        elif g_act == IN:
+            # O, Gold I --> True
+            return True
+        elif g_act == LAST:
+            # O, Gold L --> True
+            return True
+        elif g_act == OUT:
+            # O, Gold O --> True
+            return True
+        elif g_act == UNIT:
+            # O, Gold U --> False
+            return False
+    elif act == UNIT:
+        if g_act == UNIT:
+            # U, Gold U --> True iff tag match
+            return tag == g_tag
+        else:
+            # U, Gold B --> False
+            # U, Gold I --> False
+            # U, Gold L --> False
+            # U, Gold O --> False
+            return False
+
+
+cdef bint entity_is_open(State *s) except -1:
+    return s.sent[s.i - 1].ent.tag >= 1
+
+
+cdef bint entity_is_sunk(State *s, Move* golds) except -1:
+    if not entity_is_open(s):
+        return False
+
+    cdef const Entity* curr = &s.sent[s.i - 1].ent
+    cdef Move* gold = &golds[(s.i - 1) + curr.start]
+    if gold.action != BEGIN and gold.action != UNIT:
+        return True
+    elif gold.label != s.curr.label:
+        return True
+    else:
+        return False
+
+
+cdef class TransitionSystem:
+    def __init__(self, list entity_type_strs):
+        self.mem = Pool()
+
+        cdef Move* m
+        label_names = {'-': 0}
+        for i, tag_name in enumerate(tag_names):
+            m = &moves[i]
+            if '-' in tag_name:
+                action_str, label = tag_name.split('-')
+            elif tag_name == 'O':
+                action_str = 'O'
+                label = '-'
+            elif tag_name == 'NULL' or tag_name == 'EOL':
+                action_str = '?'
+                label = '-'
+            else:
+                raise StandardError(tag_name)
+            m.action = ACTION_NAMES.index(action_str)
+            m.label = label_names.setdefault(label, len(label_names))
+            m.clas = i
+
+    cdef int transition(self, State *s, Move* move) except -1:
+        if move.action == BEGIN:
+            s.curr.start = s.i
+            s.curr.label = label
+        elif move.action == IN:
+            pass
+        elif move.action == LAST:
+            s.curr.end = s.i
+            s.ents[s.j] = s.curr
+            s.j += 1
+            s.curr.start = 0
+            s.curr.label = -1
+            s.curr.end = 0
+        elif move.action == UNIT:
+            begin_entity(s, move.label)
+            end_entity(s)
+        elif move.action == OUT:
+            pass
+        s.tags[s.i] = move.clas 
+        s.i += 1
+
+    cdef Transition best_valid(self, const weight_t* scores, const State* s) except *:
+        cdef int best = -1
+        cdef weight_t score = -90000
+        cdef const Transition* m
+        cdef int i
+        for i in range(self.n_moves):
+            m = &self._moves[i]
+            if _is_valid(s, m.ent_move, m.ent_label) and scores[i] > score:
+                best = i
+                score = scores[i]
+        assert best >= 0
+        cdef Transition t = self._moves[best]
+        t.score = score
+        return t
+
+    cdef Transition best_gold(self, Transition* guess, const weight_t* scores,
+                              const State* s, Move* golds) except *:
+
+        cdef Move* g = &golds[s.i]
+        cdef ActionType next_act = <ActionType>golds[s.i+1].action if s.i < s.length else OUT
+        cdef bint is_sunk = entity_is_sunk(s, golds)
+        cdef Move* m
+        cdef int n_accept = 0
+        for i in range(1, self.n_classes):
+            m = &moves[i]
+            if _is_valid(s, m.move, m.label) and \
+               _is_gold(s, m.move, m.label, next_act, is_sunk) and \
+               scores[i] > score:
+                best = i
+                score = scores[i]
+    assert best >= 0
+    return self._moves[best]
+
+
+class OracleError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+class UnknownMove(Exception):
+    pass