现代汉语是现代汉民族的语言，包括共同语（普通话）和不同的方言，同时现代汉语中的普通话是中华各民族之间的共同交际用语，还是联合国的六种工作语言之一，成为一种国际交际语。

The language that we use in our daily life is modern Chinese.Modern Chinese is the language of Han nationality, which includes mandarin and various dialects. Nowadays, mandarin is the common expressions for daily communication shared and respected by different ethnics in china. What is more, it is one of the six working languages in the united union, becoming a kind of international expressions.

今天，我们通过比较现代汉语与印欧语言（主要是英语）的语法特点，对外语学习者和汉语学习者提供一定帮助。

Today, we will make a comparison about the grammar features between modern Chinese and indo European family languages.(mainly about English) to offer some help for foreign language learners and Chinese learners.

1、 汉语缺少严格意义上的形态变化，而印欧语的形态变化较为丰富。

形态一般也称作词形变化，指的是一个词进入句子时为了表示某种语法关系和语法意义，这个词要由原来的形式变为另一种形式。在英语中，例如（book）一词，我们要表达我有很多书，就要说成“I have many books.”这里名词“books”发生了数的变化。再说动词，若上一个例句中的主语换成“he”,则应表达为“He has many books.”“have”发生了人称变化，若要表达他以前拥有很多书，“have”又要变成其过去式“had”。

Firstly, modern Chinese lack morphological change in a strict sense while indo European language is abundant in this aspect.

Generally speaking, morphology is also called inflection that when a word joins into one sentence, the original form of this word has to be changed into another form according to the real situation. It aims at showing certain grammar relation and grammar sense. In English, just take book as an example. If we want to express the idea(我有很多书), it is natural to say I have many books. Here the noun book has to be transformed into the books, which a number change took place. Ok let us look at the verb. If we use the subject he to replace I, then the correct sentence should be like this. He has many books. Have has to be transformed into has, which a person change happened. If we would like to describe the fact他以前拥有很多书,obviously, have needs to be transformed into had.

而在汉语中，尽管有“着”“了”“过”等表示某种时态，但它们的位置不固定，看作形态标志是有困难的。在汉语中，语序和虚词表达语法关系的主要手段。例如“我吃饭”“我吃着饭”“我吃了饭”“你吃饭吗”意义大不相同。“男朋友”“男的朋友”意思也大相径庭，而语序也会影响人们对于句子的理解，例如“借给他一支笔”和“借一支笔给他”，前者更接近陈述，后者则是一种命令的口吻。

In Chinese, even though we have such kind of characters to describe certain tense, like 着、了、过， while their position is not fixed. Therefore, regarding them as the symbols of tense is not so reasonable. The main approaches to expressing grammar relation are the order and function word. For instance, “我吃饭”“我吃着饭”“我吃了饭”“你吃饭吗”. Their meanings are widely disparate. “男朋友”“男的朋友” also different in a similar way. The word order also has a vital impact on the understanding of sentence for listeners. Another example. “借给他一支笔”和“借一支笔给他”the former one gets close to the declarative sentence while the latter one gives people a sense of order.

2、 汉语的词类和句子之间不存在一一对应关系，而印欧语言中词类和句子成分之间有严格的一一对应关系。

Secondly, there is no correspondence relation between words and sentences. And indo European language is to the opposite.

我们首先来看一个英文例句：

Scientists tested many methods discreetly.

显而易见，名词scientists作主语，methods作宾语，动词tested作谓语，形容词many作定语，副词discreetly作状语。词类与句子成分一一对应，对吗？再来看汉语的这个句子“天冷了。”“冷”是一个形容词，它在句子中充当谓语成分。而形容词作谓语的情形在英语中不会出现。除此之外，其它词类与句子之间也不存在一一对应关系。用下面两张图表示两者之间的差异再清楚不过了。

Here is an example. Evidently, the noun scientists play a role as a subject. “Methods”performs function as object. The verb tested is the predicate. While many is used as attribute. And the adverb discreetly functions as adverbial modifier. The words and the sentence constituents are correspondent with each other. Right? Let us go back to see a Chinese model. “天冷了.” Here 冷 is an adjective, performing the role of predicate. However, this kind of situation will not appear in English. Besides, there is no correspondent relationship between other words and sentences. Two pictures followed make it clear to see the specific difference.(sorry about the pictures are not valuable here)

3、 汉语中的量词非常丰富，英语中没有量词。

在汉语中，我们想去表达“a book”要说成“一本书”。“本”作为量词在英语中没有对应。看似英语中没有量词像是省了一个麻烦，但有时候不能像汉语那样传达出形象直观的信息，例如“张”“枚”“片”“页”给人一种宽而薄的感受，“根”“丈”“杆”“课”给人细而长的感受。英语中虽然有a piece of、a bar of 等修饰名词的短语，但它们的组合并不稳定，数量也很少。

Thirdly, modern Chinese is rich in classifier while English is to the opposite side. In Chinese, if we have a desire to represent “a book”, we need to say “一本书“ . But in English, there is no specific classifier to express 本. On the surface, no classifier in English saves a great deal of trouble. But sometimes this deficiency cannot offer the enough information as vivid and direct as Chinese. Some Chinese characters like “张”“枚”“片”“页”own the power to let people feel width and thinness. Another group of characters like “根”“株”“杆”“棵”really give people a sense of slenderness and length. Despite the fact that some collocations such as “a piece of” and “a bar of” could modify nouns, their combinations are not stable and the number of them is quite small.