閩語的語法成份分別屬於四個時間層次：遠古、秦漢、南朝、晚唐。晚唐層次的成份有(一)表示新情況的句末語助詞.a「也」，如閩南語「門開.a」，(二)〔(O)V了也〕中的「了也」liau-3 .a，如「伊飯食了也」，(三)〔VO了，VP2〕，〔OV了，VP2〕，如「阿英洗衫了始去睏」、「阿英衫洗了始去睏」，(四)連接詞liau-3 au-6「了後」以及liau-2 bue-3 tshiu-3「連尾手」的詞尾「手」。南朝層次的成份有(五)方位介詞ti-6「著」，(六)詢問詞ti-6「底」，(七)遠指詞hi-3「許」；閩南詞hit 7（那）是「許一」的合音詞。秦漢層次的成份有(八)規定詞「其」，閩南話e-2，福州話ki-2。(九)閩語第一人稱複數包括式和排除式的對立來自非漢語的底層，也就是南亞族、南島族或傣族所說的語言。從這幾個閩語語法成份的來源來看，有三波漢人先後來到閩地，各自帶來自己的方言，層層積累而形成閩語。漢人來到以前，閩地的原居民是百越民族。

This paper shows that the grammatical component of the Min dialects is comprised of three strata which can in a general way be associated with specific historical periods and events: first, the Ch'in-Han imperial expansion which brought Old Chinese to Fukien; second, the migration from the Wu-Yueh region during the Southern dynasties; and third, a similar population movement from the North to Fukien towards the end of the T'ang dynasty. Examples are mostly drawn from Southern Min.

Grammatical constituents which came from the Late T'ang are: (1) the sentence-final inchoative particle .a 也, (2) the use of liau-3 .a 了也 at the end of a sentence to mark the completion of an action, (3) the use of liau-3 to indicate the occurrence of an event before another in constructions such as [VO liau-3 VP2] and [OV liau-3, VP2], and (4) the suffix tshiu-3 in liau-2 bue-3 tshiu-3 連尾手 'thereafter, subsequently'.

Grammatical particles which entered the Min dialects during the Southern dynasties are: (5) the locative particle ti-6 著， (6) the deictic particle hi-3 許 'that', which is part of the fusion word hit 7 'that' ( < hi-3 + it-7 許一), and the interrogative particle ti-6 底.

The determinative particle, Amoy e-2, Fuchou ki-2, is etymologically 其 and came from Old Chinese.

From the non-Chinese substratum came the semantic distinction between inclusive "we" and exclusive "we" in the Min dialects; the donor language may be Austroasiatic, Austronesian, or Thai.