There are other systems but Pinyin, developed in the 1950s, has become widespread throughout China, and has received official encouragement. Compared to other languages, word structure is also simple and uncomplicated, with words consisting of one or two morphemes, and there are few inflectional morphemes, such as those in other languages that indicate, for example, tense, person, number, gender, and case. There is some morphological complexity. Definite nouns may be overtly marked by various modifiers but usually any sentential constituents before the verb are considered as definite. Modifiers precede nouns.
Verbs can occur in compounds in which the second element indicates result or direction.
The syntax is rather simple and uncomplicated but unusual from the standpoint of English. Notions such as subject, direct and indirect object play no significant role. Serial verb constructions in expressing subordinate relationships such as purpose are the norm and there are no overt markers for indicating subordination or coordination. The distinction between active and passive voice is often left unmarked but there are prepositions which can be used to indicate agents. Indirect objects in most cases are marked by a preposition and precede the verb.