Abstract: A comparative study of the descriptions of the modal particle ye in Notitia Lingae Sinicae written by French missionary Joseph de Prémare and those in Ma’s Grammar shows that Joseph de Prémare was the first scholar in the history of Chinese grammar who described the modal particle ye comprehensively from the perspective of grammar in 1728 and the descriptions of ye in Ma’s Grammar were not beyond Prémare’s framework. As for the methodology, Prémare mainly combined grammar and rhetoric based on the particularity of Chinese language. This comparative study also shows different concepts of grammar in eastern and western scholars.

Key words: Joseph de Pré, mare, Notitia Lingae Sinicae, Ma&rsquo, s Grammar, ye