Learn Hardcore Turkish: Mutfakta hijyen standartı yüksek. - The hygiene standard in the kitchen is high.

In Turkish, the present‐tense copula “to be” is usually omitted. Instead of saying “… is high,” you simply state the adjective at the end. So
Mutfakta hijyen standartı yüksek.
literally reads “In the kitchen, the hygiene standard high.”
If you want to be extra formal or explicit, you can add the suffix -dir to the adjective:
Mutfakta hijyen standartı yüksektir.

What does the suffix -ta in Mutfakta do?

-ta is the locative case marker, indicating “in/at/on.” Turkish has six cases; -da/-de/-ta/-te mark location. Here, mutfak (kitchen) + -ta = mutfakta, “in the kitchen.”

Why is it -ta and not -de?

Turkish follows two harmony rules:
1) Consonant harmony: After a voiceless consonant like k, the suffix consonant also stays voiceless → k + t.
2) Vowel harmony: mutfak has a back vowel u, so the suffix vowel is a rather than e.
Combine these and you get -ta.

Why doesn’t hijyen take any suffix?

Here hijyen (“hygiene”) is an attributive noun modifying standartı (“standard”). In Turkish noun–noun compounds, the first noun stays in its bare form (no case or possessive suffix). Only the second noun— the “head”—takes the necessary suffixes.

What is the -ı on standartı? Is it the accusative case?

That -ı is not the accusative; it’s the 3rd-person singular possessive suffix. In a compound like hijyen standartı, it shows that standart is “the standard of hygiene.” Subjects in Turkish normally don’t take case endings, so this -ı is purely possessive.

Why does the adjective yüksek come after hijyen standartı? Can I say yüksek hijyen standartı?

Because this is a full nominal sentence with yüksek as the predicate adjective, it naturally appears at the end. If you place yüksek before standartı, you’re creating an attributive phrase (“high hygiene standard”), not stating “the standard is high.”
To use that attributive order in a sentence, you’d need a verb like var:
Mutfakta yüksek hijyen standartı var.
(“There is a high hygiene standard in the kitchen.”)

How else could I express the same idea with var or -dir?

Two common variants:
1) Using var for existence and attributive adjective:
Mutfakta yüksek hijyen standartı var.
2) Adding the copula suffix -dir for formality (predicate version):
Mutfakta hijyen standartı yüksektir.
Both carry the same basic meaning but differ in style and emphasis.