Basic Sentence Structure (SOV)

Basic Word Order

Turkish uses SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) word order, opposite of English SVO.

English: I eat bread (SVO)

Turkish: Ben ekmek yiyorum (SOV)

I bread eat

The verb typically comes at the end of the sentence, though word order can shift for emphasis.

Ben su içiyorum

I am drinking water

I - water - drinking (SOV)

Ahmet kitap okuyor

Ahmet is reading a book

Ahmet - book - reading

Biz Türkçe öğreniyoruz

We are learning Turkish

We - Turkish - learning

Flexible Word Order

While SOV is the standard order, Turkish word order is relatively flexible. You can change the order to emphasize different parts of the sentence, but the verb typically stays at the end.

The part that comes just before the verb gets the most emphasis.

Kitabı ben okudum

I read the book (emphasizing 'I')

Book - I - read (emphasis on 'I')

Ben kitabı okudum

I read the book (neutral)

I - book - read (neutral order)

Exercises

word order

Arrange: çay / içiyorum / ben (I am drinking tea)

Answer: Ben çay içiyorum

SOV order: I - tea - drinking

word order

Arrange: okul / gidiyor / Ali / a (Ali is going to school)

Answer: Ali okula gidiyor

SOV order: Ali - to school - going

translation

Translate with correct word order: She is eating bread

Answer: O ekmek yiyor

She - bread - eating (SOV)