Learn Hardcore Turkish: Ekip projedeki hataları tespit ediyor. - The team detects the errors in the project.

Turkish does not have articles equivalent to the or a. Instead, definiteness or indefiniteness is inferred from context, word order, or case endings. In this sentence, the accusative suffix -ı on hataları marks “the errors” as definite.

How do I know that hataları is the direct object in this sentence?

In Turkish, a definite direct object takes one of the accusative endings -ı/-i/-u/-ü. Here, hatalar (“errors”) plus the accusative -ı becomes hataları, signalling that it’s the object (“the errors”).

Why does hataları end with both -lar and -ı?

-lar/-ler is the plural suffix; you choose -lar because hata contains the back vowel a. That gives hatalar (“errors”). Adding the accusative -ı (again following vowel harmony) yields hataları (“the errors”).

Why is the verb form tespit ediyor in third-person singular (no -lar), even though ekip refers to a group?

ekip (“team”) is a collective noun treated grammatically as singular. Turkish verbs agree with the subject’s grammatical number. Since ekip is singular, you use the third-person singular progressive -yor on the root et-, giving ediyor. If you replaced ekip with an explicitly plural subject (like ekip üyeleri “team members”), you could optionally say ediyorlar.

How is the progressive tense tespit ediyor formed, and why is -iyor attached to et and not tespit?

tespit etmek is a compound verb: tespit is originally a noun (“detection”), and etmek (“to do/make”) turns it into a verb. You form the present continuous by attaching -iyor to et, then adding any person/number markers. So:
1) tespit etmek → split into tespit + etmek
2) et + -iyor → ediyor
3) combine → tespit ediyor (“is detecting”).

What does the suffix -ki do in projedeki, and how is projedeki constructed?

-ki is a relative/locative suffix meaning “in/at which.” You build projedeki as follows:
• proje (“project”)
• plus locative -de → projede (“in the project”)
• plus relative -ki → projedeki (“(that is) in the project”).
As an adjective, projedeki hatalar means “the errors in the project.”

What is the default word order in this sentence, and can I change it?

The neutral Turkish order is Subject-Object-Verb (S-O-V):
Ekip (S) + projedeki hataları (O) + tespit ediyor (V).
Because Turkish uses case endings, you can rearrange these elements for emphasis (for example, Projedeki hataları ekip tespit ediyor to stress projedeki hataları), but S-O-V is the unmarked, most common order.

Could I omit -ki and say Ekip projede hataları tespit ediyor? Would that change the meaning?

Yes—Ekip projede hataları tespit ediyor is grammatically correct and means “The team is detecting errors in the project.” Without -ki, projede acts as a separate locative adverbial (“in the project”). Using projedeki simply turns that locative into a concise adjective (“the project-in errors”), which can sound slightly more formal or specific.