Learn Hardcore Turkish: Öğrenciler derse zamanında gelmeli. - Students should arrive at class on time.

The suffix -meli/-malı expresses necessity or obligation in Turkish. It’s often called the “necessitative” mood. When you attach it to a verb stem (here gel-, “come”), it conveys “must/should come.”

Why is there no separate verb like “must” or “should” in the sentence?

Turkish doesn’t use an auxiliary for “must/should.” Instead, obligation is built into the verb itself via -meli/-malı. So gelmeli already means “must/should come” without any extra words.

Is gelmeli present or future tense?

-meli is a mood marker rather than a tense. By default it refers to general or present-time obligation (“should come”). If you need past obligation, you’d add a past marker, e.g. gelmeliydi (“he was supposed to come”).

Why is ders in the form derse? What case is that?

derse is the dative case (ders + ‑e) and means “to the lesson” or “to class.” You use the dative for direction (where someone is going).

What does zamanında mean, and how is it formed?

zamanında means “on time” or “at the right time.” It’s built from:

zaman (“time”)
-ın (genitive, “of”)
-da (locative, “at/in”)
Together they literally mean “at the time of it,” i.e. “on time.”

Why is there no subject pronoun like “they” in this sentence?

Turkish is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are optional when the subject is clear. Here öğrenciler (“students”) is already explicit, so you don’t need onlar (“they”).

Why doesn’t the verb gelmeli carry a separate plural marker, even though öğrenciler is plural?

In the 3rd person (singular or plural) necessitative, the plain -meli form is used without additional person or number endings. Turkish often merges singular/plural in 3rd person for modality: “he/she/they must come” all uses gelmeli.

How would you make the sentence negative (“should not come”)?

Insert the negative infix -me- before -meli:
Öğrenciler derse zamanında gelmemeli.
(Students should not come to class late/on time.)

How do you turn the sentence into a question?

Add the question particle mi after gelmeli, with a space:
Öğrenciler derse zamanında gelmeli mi?
(“Should students come to class on time?”)

What other ways are there to express obligation or necessity in Turkish?

You can also use: • A nominalized verb + gerek(kir) or lazım:
– Öğrencilerin derse zamanında gelmesi gerekiyor.
– Öğrencilerin derse zamanında gelmesi lazım.
• A verbal noun + zorunda:
– Öğrenciler derse zamanında gelmek zorunda.
All of these mean roughly “students have to/need to come to class on time.”