Learn Hardcore Turkish: Cümledeki son nokta eksik kalmış. - The final period in the sentence is missing.

Cümledeki comes from cümle (sentence) + the locative suffix -de (in) + the relative suffix -ki. Altogether it means “the one in the sentence” or simply “in the sentence” when used to modify a following noun.

Why is the suffix -ki attached after -de here?

The suffix -ki turns a locative phrase into a relative adjective meaning “which is at/in…”. So cümlede is “in the sentence,” and cümledeki means “the [thing] in the sentence.” Without -ki, you’d only have the location, not an adjective to describe something.

What does son nokta mean in this context?

Son means “last” or “final,” and nokta means “dot,” “point,” or “period” (the punctuation mark). Here son nokta refers specifically to the final period at the end of the sentence.

What does eksik kalmış mean, and why do we use kalmak with eksik?

Eksik means “missing” or “lacking,” and kalmak in this phrase means “to remain.” Together, eksik kalmış literally means “has remained missing,” i.e. “was left out.” The adjective+kalmak structure is common in Turkish to express that something has stayed in a certain (usually unwanted) state.

What is the function of the past participle ending -mış on kalmış?

The ending -mış adds a perfect/resultative sense (“has ended up”) and also carries an inference or indirect evidential meaning (the speaker infers the state). So kalmış emphasizes that the dot “ended up missing.”

Could we omit kalmış and simply say Cümledeki son nokta eksik?

Dropping kalmış would be grammatically odd because eksik is an adjective and would require a copula (e.g. eksikti), which still sounds unnatural here. The idiomatic way to say “it was left out” is eksik kalmış.

Can we also express this using the genitive/possessive structure, like Cümlenin son noktası eksik kalmış? What’s the difference?

Yes, Cümlenin son noktası eksik kalmış (“the sentence’s final dot was left out”) is perfectly valid. It uses the genitive Cümlenin + possessive suffix -ı instead of -deki. The meaning is virtually the same; Cümledeki highlights “the one in the sentence,” whereas Cümlenin son noktası literally means “the sentence’s last dot.” Both are correct and interchangeable here.