The standard, neutral word order in Turkish is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). This is a fundamental concept for constructing basic sentences.

Components:

• Subject (Özne): The person or thing performing the action or being described. Typically in the nominative case.
• Object (Nesne): The person or thing directly affected by the action of the verb. If definite, it takes the accusative case (-i/-ı/-u/-ü). If indefinite, it's in the nominative case.
• Verb (Yüklem): The action or state of being. It comes at the end of the sentence and is conjugated for tense, mood, and person.

Examples:

• Ben elma yedim. (I ate an apple.)
  Subject: Ben (I), Object: elma (an apple - indefinite), Verb: yedim (I ate)
• Ayşe kitabını okuyor. (Ayşe is reading her book.)
  Subject: Ayşe, Object: kitabını (her book - definite accusative), Verb: okuyor (is reading)
• Kedi süt içti. (The cat drank milk.)
  Subject: Kedi (The cat), Object: süt (milk - indefinite), Verb: içti (drank)

Flexibility for Emphasis:

While SOV is the neutral order, Turkish allows flexibility to change word order for emphasis. The element placed immediately before the verb typically receives the most emphasis.

• Elmayı ben yedim. (It was I who ate the apple. / THE APPLE, I ate.) - Object emphasized.
• Ben yedim elmayı. (I ATE the apple. - Verb emphasized, or object as afterthought).

Understanding the SOV structure is the first step to forming correct Turkish sentences. Other elements like adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases fit into this structure, generally with adjectives preceding nouns and adverbs often appearing before the verb.