天道酬勤 is formed by the sequential combination of four characters: 天 (heaven), 道 (way), 酬 (reward), and 勤 (diligence). These are arranged in a grammatical structure where 天道 functions as the subject meaning "heaven's way", 酬 acts as the verb meaning "rewards", and 勤 serves as the object meaning "diligence", resulting in a complete phrase that literally conveys the idea that heaven rewards hard work.