Have you ever played with Legos or blocks? You may find this question odd, so let me explain. 

I think that words resemble individual Legos or blocks. If you put them together randomly, you’re not going to build a meaningful structure. The same is true for words. 

Depending on the characteristics of a language, words have to be in a certain order to form meaningful sentences. You can’t just put one after the other with a hit-or-miss approach. This makes Turkish word order and sentence structure a can’t-miss aspect of learning the language.

Would you like to learn about word order in Turkish grammar and basic sentence structure in Turkish? Then I recommend that you read through this article carefully and take notes on the most significant points.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Turkish Sentence Structure
2. First Stop: SOV Word Order in Regular Sentences
3. Second Stop: Word Order in Inverted Sentences
4. Third Stop: Word Order in Elliptical Sentences
5. Next Stop: Word Order in Prepositional Phrases
6. Another Stop: Placing Modifiers in a Turkish Sentence
7. Turning Simple Turkish Sentence Structures into Complex Ones
8. The Journey isn’t Over Yet!

1. Introduction to Turkish Sentence Structure

Word order is basically the sequence in which words are placed in a sentence. As I mentioned above, it’s important to learn this because placing words in the wrong order will result in nonsense, ambiguity, confusion, and incorrect sentences.

Now, let’s learn about word order in Turkish grammar!

The typical Turkish word order is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb), which means that the subject comes first, followed by an object, and then a verb. Let’s go over what a subject, object, and verb are:

• A subject is the person or thing that performs the action.
• An object is a noun or noun phrase that the verb affects.
• A verb is a word that represents an action or state.

Here’s an example:

• Ben Türkçe öğreniyorum. – “I am learning Turkish.”

    Subject    Object   Verb   (SOV)

Hang on to your hat now; I have good news. Turkish word order is more flexible than word order in English! You can put an object or a verb at the beginning of a sentence. The meaning won’t change, but the word you’re stressing will definitely change. 

Here are some examples of how Turkish language word order can vary:

Subject-Object-Verb	Ben kızımı özlüyorum.	“I miss my daughter.”
Subject-Verb-Object	Ben özlüyorum kızımı.	“I miss my daughter.”
Object-Subject-Verb	Kızımı ben özlüyorum.	“I miss my daughter.”
Object-Verb-Subject	Kızımı özlüyorum ben.	“I miss my daughter.”
Verb-Subject-Object	Özlüyorum ben kızımı.	“I miss my daughter.”
Verb-Object-Subject	Özlüyorum kızımı ben.	“I miss my daughter.”

As you can see, I mixed the word order quite a bit and still expressed the same thing. However, the emphasis is on different words, which are indicated in blue text.

There’s one point that I emphasize in almost all of the articles I write, and that is: Turkish personal pronouns are usually not used in sentences. This is because the suffixes at the end of verbs imply the pronoun.

There are different types of sentences in Turkish, based on certain factors. We’ll just take a look at the types according to the sequence of words. These types are:

• Regular sentences
• Inverted sentences
• Elliptical sentences

Now let’s begin dissecting the word order rules in Turkish for regular sentences.

2. First Stop: SOV Word Order in Regular Sentences

In the regular Turkish sentence structure, verbs are placed at the end.

1- Positive Sentences

•  Yarın alışverişe gideceğim. – “I will go shopping tomorrow.”
•  Okul bugün başladı. – “The school started today.”
• Bugün çok hastayım. – “I am very sick today.”

2- Negative Sentences

• Yarın alışverişe gitmeyeceğim. – “I won’t go shopping tomorrow.”
• Okul bugün başlamadı. – “The school didn’t start today.”
•  Bugün hasta değilim. – “I am not sick today.”

3- Imperative Sentences

• Buraya gel! – “Come here!”
• Acele et! – “Hurry up!”
• Çeneni kapa! – “Shut up!”

4- Interrogative Sentences

There are two different types of interrogative sentences:

A- Questions with Question Words

In regular sentences, question words usually come first. However, they can also come right before the verb without changing the meaning. The verb is placed at the end of this type of interrogative sentence. 

• Ne zaman alışverişe gideceksin? – “When will you go shopping?”

Alışverişe ne zaman gideceksin?

• Hangi okula başladın? – “Which school did you start?”
• Neden hastalandın? – “Why did you get sick?”
• Nereye gideceksin? – “Where will you go?”
• Bugün ne yapacaksın? – “What will you do today?”

B- Yes-or-No Questions

To create a yes-or-no question, interrogative particles (-mı,-mi, -mu, -mü, and their conjugated forms) are placed at the end, and the verbs come right before them.

• Yarın alışverişe gidecek misin? – “Will you go shopping tomorrow?”
• Okul bugün başladı mı? – “Did the school start today?”
• Bugün hasta mısın? – “Are you sick today?”

3. Second Stop: Word Order in Inverted Sentences

In this case, verbs can be placed anywhere in the sentence, except at the end. 

Inverted sentences are usually used:

• In daily conversations
• In poems
• In proverbs (to make the words rhyme)
• As short answers to questions

1- Positive Sentences

• Alışverişe gideceğim yarın. – “I will go shopping tomorrow.”
• Okul başladı bugün. – “The school started today.”
• Çok hastayım bugün. – “I am very sick today.”

2- Negative Sentences

• Alışverişe gitmeyeceğim yarın. – “I won’t go shopping tomorrow.”
• Bugün başlamadı okul. – “The school didn’t start today.”
• Hasta değilim bugün. – “I am not sick today.”

3- Imperative Sentences

• Gel buraya! – “Come here!”
• Kapa çeneni! – “Shut up!”
• Çık dışarı! – “Get out!”

4- Interrogative Sentences

• Alışverişe gidecek misin yarın? – “Will you go shopping tomorrow?”
• Bugün başladı mı okul? – “Did the school start today?”
• Hastalandın mı bugün? – “Did you get sick today?”
• Ne zaman gideceksin alışverişe? – “When will you go shopping?”
• Ne yapacaksın bugün? – “What will you do today?”
• Nerede seyrettin o filmi? – “Where did you watch that movie?”
• Neden gelmediniz dün? – “Why didn’t you come yesterday?”

4. Third Stop: Word Order in Elliptical Sentences

Sentences that don’t have verbs are called elliptical sentences. As you’ll remember, there aren’t separate words for “is” and “are” in Turkish, but there are suffixes that are added to the nouns. These suffixes give the meaning of the verb “to be.” In noun clauses, if the “to be” verb is skipped, then they become elliptical sentences. There’s also another case in which the verb is omitted and the reader is expected to complete the sentence.

1- Sentences Where the Judgment is Up to the Reader

• Yepyeni bir başlangıç… – “A brand-new start…”
• Şahane bir manzara… – “Fantastic scenery…”
• Akıllıca! – “Reasonable!”

2- Noun Clauses

• Orası çok uzak. – “That place is too far.”
• O güzel bir kız. – “She is a beautiful girl.”

3- Coordinating Conjunctions

• Önce yemek, sonra oynayabilirsin. – “First food, then you can play.”
• Önce süt, sonra yatmalısın. – “First milk, then you have to go to bed.”
• Haydi, duşa, sonra da akşam yemeği yiyeceğiz. – “Come on to the shower, and then we will have dinner.”

5. Next Stop: Word Order in Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases give us more details about nouns and verbs in a sentence. Basically, they help us understand a sentence better. They might function as adjectives or adverbs.

Prepositions normally come after a noun in Turkish. For example: Araba [noun] ile [preposition] (“By car”).

A preposition forms a prepositional phrase when it combines with the preceding words or word groups. It becomes a modifier in this case. In Turkish, the modified element is placed at the end. However, in prepositional phrases, it’s a dependent element and is placed at the beginning. This is a situation that doesn’t follow the rules.

For example:

İstanbul’a araba ile gidecekler. – “They will go to Istanbul by car.”

Here are more examples of the word order in Turkish sentences when prepositional phrases are used:

• Benim için sorun yok. – “No problem for me.”
• Okula doğru yürüdüm. – “I walked towards school.”
• Bir çiçek kadar güzelsin. – “You are as beautiful as a flower.”
• Çocuğun gürültüsüyle uyandı. – “He/she woke up from the noise of the child.” 
• Ok gibi kirpikleri var. – “He/she has eyelashes like arrows.”
• Uykusuzluğuna rağmen arabayı kullandı. – “Despite his/her sleeplessness, he/she drove the car.”

1- Adverbs of Manner

If a preposition is grouped with an abstract word, then it becomes an adverb of manner. An adverb of manner is usually placed before the verb, and it expresses how the action is performed.

• Bana sevinçle sarıldı. – “He/she hugged me happily.” (How did he/she hug?)
• Soruları hızlıca yanıtladı. – “He/she answered the questions quickly.” (How did he/she answer the questions?)

2- Adverbs of Time

Some of the time-related words become adverbs of time when grouped together with other words. These adverbs are located at the beginning of the sentence, unless the sentence has a subject.

• Sabaha kadar ders çalıştık. – “We studied until the morning.” (How long did we study?)
• Akşama doğru vardık. – “We arrived towards the evening.”

3- Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of place are generally placed before the verb. However, unlike adverbs of manner, they can be placed in other parts of a sentence.

• Beri gel, konuşalım. – “Come near me, so we can talk.”
• Öğretmen içeri girdi. – “The teacher came inside.”

 

6. Another Stop: Placing Modifiers in a Turkish Sentence

What is a Modifier?

It’s a word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb. A modifier provides additional information or details about another word or word group for more emphasis, thus changing or clarifying a sentence.

A modifier can also be a group of words that gives more information about a noun to answer the “which” question. Other ones are groups of words that answer the “when,” “where,” “how,” or “why” questions.

A noun can modify another noun by taking place immediately before it:

• Mutfak masası – “Kitchen table”
• Trafik lambası – “Traffic light” 

Present participles can modify nouns:

• Gülümseyen çocuk – “Smiling kid”
• Koşan adam – “Running man”

Past participles can modify nouns:

• Yanmış ekmek – “Burnt bread”
• Sönmüş balon – “Deflated balloon”  

   Demonstrative adjectives:

• Şu ev – “That house”
• Bu anahtar – “This key”

In Turkish, modifiers are always used before nouns, except for certain cases when the modifiers come after the pronoun or noun. 

Prepositional phrases: We covered this topic above.

Adjective clauses:

•  Bahçede basketbol oynayan çocuklar – “Children who are playing basketball in the garden”
• Sokakta bağıran çocuklar – “Children who are screaming on the street”

Articles: Only the indefinite article bir is used before nouns in Turkish:

• Bir tren – “A train”
• Bir ülke – “A country”

There’s no definite article “the” as a separate word in the Turkish language. When definite nouns or pronouns are used as an object, then they take the -ı, -i, -u, or -ü suffixes based on the vowel harmony rules.

Definite nouns as objects:

• Defter – i aldım. -“I took the notebook.”
• Atkı – (y)ı yıkadım. – “I washed the scarf.”

Proper nouns as objects:

When proper nouns are used as objects, they also get the -ı, -i, -u, or -ü suffixes based on the vowel harmony rules. Unlike in English, proper nouns can be used with definite articles in Turkish, meaning that they also take suffixes. 

• Geçen hafta Mary’yi gördüm. – “I saw Mary last week.”
• James’i özledim. – “I missed James.”

Pronouns as objects:

• Biz-i unuttunuz. – “You forgot us.”
• O-nu özledim. – “I missed him/her/it.”

 If a definite noun is used as the subject of a sentence, it does not need the suffixes mentioned above.

• Annem bana bir kedi aldı, ama kedi kaçtı. – “My mother bought me a cat, but the cat ran away.”

Similarly, when active sentences are transformed into passive ones, the objects that become subjects don’t take the suffixes:

• Kırmızı bardağı kırdım. – “I broke the red glass.” (Active voice)
• Kırmızı bardak kırıldı. – “The red glass was broken.” (Passive voice) 

Possessive pronouns:

In Turkish, there aren’t separate words to express possessive pronouns. However, the -m, -ım, -im, -um, and -üm suffixes (in conjugated forms) come after the pronoun to make it possessive.

• Benim – “My”
• Onların – “Their”

Possessive pronouns can be ignored because the nouns they’re modifying also take suffixes, which imply the possessive pronoun. However, if you need to emphasize the possessive pronoun for some reason, then you can use it in the sentence.

• Benim odam çok küçük. – “My room is very small.”
• Odam çok küçük. – “My room is very small.”

• Sizin arabanız nerede? – “Where is your car?”
• Arabanız nerede? – “Where is your car?”

The infinitives can also be used in noun compounds. There are four kinds of infinitives in Turkish:

1. The -mek and -mak infinitives. Ex: gelmek (“to come”) and oynamak “(to play”). These infinitives are not used in noun compounds.

2. The -me and -ma infinitives. Ex: gelme (“to come”) and oynama (“to play”).

•  Çocuğun ağlaması hepimizi üzdü. – “The child’s crying saddened all of us.”
• Yemeğin pişmesini bekliyorum. – “I’m waiting for the food to cook.”

3. The -dik, -dık, -dük, -duk, -tik, -tık, -tük, and -tuk infinitives.

• Kızımın neden ağladığını bilmiyorum. – “I don’t know why my daughter is crying.”
• Ne istediğini söylemelisin. – “You must say what you want.”

4. The -iş, -ış, -üş, and -uş infinitives. They’re used as subjects or objects in sentences.

• Onun dönüşünü bekliyorum. – “I’m waiting for him/her to return.”
• Güneşin batışını seyrediyorum. – “I’m watching the sunset.”

7. Turning Simple Turkish Sentence Structures into Complex Ones

Now that the theory part is over, I’m sure everything will fall into place in this section. I’m about to give you plenty of examples to study and practice with.

I’ll start with a simple Turkish sentence structure and keep adding to it. 

• Okula gideceğim. (“I will go to school.”)
• Yarın okula gideceğim. (“I will go to school tomorrow.”)
• Yarın saat yedide okula gideceğim. (“I will go to school at seven tomorrow.”) 
• Yarın saat yedide kardeşimle okula gideceğim. (“I will go to school with my sibling at seven tomorrow.”)
• Yarın saat yedide kardeşimle yürüyerek okula gideceğim. (“I will go to school by foot with my sibling at seven tomorrow.”)
•  Yarın saat yedide kardeşimle yürüyerek okula mı gideceğim? (“Will I go to school by foot with my sibling at seven tomorrow?”)
• Yarın saat yedide kardeşimle yürüyerek nereye gideceğim? (“Where will I go by foot with my sibling at seven tomorrow?”) 
• Yarın saat yedide yürüyerek kimle okula gideceğim? (“With whom will I go to school by foot at seven tomorrow?”)

• Kahve içtim. (“I drank coffee.”) 
• Bir fincan kahve içtim. (“I drank a cup of coffee.”) 
• Bir fincan Türk kahvesi içtim. (“I drank a cup of Turkish coffee.”) 
• Bir fincan şekersiz Türk kahvesi içtim. (“I drank a cup of Turkish coffee with no sugar.”)
• Arkadaşımla bir fincan şekersiz Türk kahvesi içtim. (“I drank a cup of Turkish coffee with no sugar with my friend.”) 
• Bu sabah arkadaşımla bir fincan şekersiz Türk kahvesi içtim. (“This morning,I drank a cup of Turkish coffee with no sugar with my friend.”) 
• Bu sabah bir kafede arkadaşımla bir fincan şekersiz Türk kahvesi içtim. (“This morning, I drank a cup of Turkish coffee with no sugar at a cafe with my friend.”) 
• Bu sabah bir kafede arkadaşımla bir fincan şekersiz Türk kahvesi mi içtim? (“Did I drink a cup of Turkish coffee with no sugar at a cafe with my friend?”) 
• Bu sabah arkadaşımla nerede bir fincan şekersiz Türk kahvesi içtim? (“Where did I drink a cup of Turkish coffee with no sugar with my friend?”)

• Onun dönüşünü kutladık. (“We celebrated his/her return.”) 
• Dün gece onun dönüşünü kutladık. (“Last night, we celebrated his/her return.”) 
• Dün gece bir restoranda onun dönüşünü kutladık. (“Last night, we celebrated his/her return at a restaurant.”) 
• Dün gece bir restoranda arkadaşlarımızla onun dönüşünü kutladık. (“Last night, we celebrated his/her return at a restaurant with our friends.”) 
• Dün gece bir restoranda arkadaşlarımızla onun dönüşünü coşkuyla kutladık. (“Last night, we celebrated his/her return with joy with our friends at a restaurant.”) 
• Dün gece bir restoranda arkadaşlarımızla onun dönüşünü coşkuyla mı kutladık? (“Did we celebrate his/her return with joy with our friends at a restaurant last night?”) 
• Dün gece bir restoranda arkadaşlarımızla neyi coşkuyla kutladık? (“What did we celebrate with joy with our friends at a restaurant last night?”)

8. The Journey isn’t Over Yet!

Do you feel better about Turkish word order and sentence structure now, after seeing how flexible they are compared to English? Do you think the journey ends here with this article? 

Of course not! 

Now it’s time for you to practice making more complex sentences. I highly recommend that you visit TurkishClass101.com to use our free resources as well as our Premium PLUS service, MyTeacher, upon upgrading.  

Please note that your feedback about your experience with TurkishClass101 will be greatly appreciated, as always.

Happy learning!