Chinese Grammar
The grammar of Standard Chinese shares many features with other varieties of Chinese. The language almost entirely lacks inflection, so that words typically have only one grammatical form. Functions such as number in nouns or tense of verbs are expressed through word order or particles. The basic word order is subject–verb–object, and most modifiers such as adjectives and adverbs precede the words they modify. Chinese adjectives and prepositions are types of verb. As in many southeast Asian languages, classifiers are required when using numerals or demonstratives with nouns.
Read more about Chinese Grammar: Topic Prominence, Aspects, Mood, Serial Verb Constructions, Classifiers, Parts of Speech
Famous quotes containing the word grammar:
“Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.”
—John Simon (b. 1925)