Mesai bugün erken bitti.

In this sentence, mesai most naturally means work, the workday, working hours, or the shift.

A useful thing to know is that mesai can also mean overtime in other contexts. So its exact meaning depends on the situation.

Here, in Mesai bugün erken bitti, it usually means something like:

• Work ended early today
• The shift ended early today
• Working hours finished early today

So mesai is a very common everyday word, but it is a little broader than just one English word.

Bitti is the simple past tense of bitmek, which means to end or to finish.

Formation:

• bit- = verb stem
• -ti = past tense ending

So:

• bitmek = to end / to finish
• bitti = it ended / it finished

In this sentence, bitti means ended.

This is a very common learner question.

• bitmek = to end, to be over, to finish on its own
• bitirmek = to finish something, to bring something to an end

So:

• Mesai bitti = Work ended
• Mesaiyi bitirdim = I finished the work / I ended the shift

In your sentence, mesai is the thing that ended, so bitmek is the correct verb.

Erken means early.

In this sentence, it works like an adverb, describing how/when the ending happened:

• erken bitti = ended early

So the structure is basically:

• Mesai = work / the shift
• bugün = today
• erken = early
• bitti = ended

Together: Work ended early today.

Turkish does not use articles like English a/an and the in the same way.

So mesai can mean:

• work
• the workday
• the shift

The exact meaning is understood from context.

This is very normal in Turkish. You often do not need a separate word for the.

Turkish often does not use subject pronouns unless they are needed for emphasis or clarity.

Here, the subject is already present: mesai.

So:

• Mesai bugün erken bitti = Work ended early today

You do not need a separate word for it because mesai is already the thing doing the action of ending.

Yes, Bugün mesai erken bitti is also possible.

Turkish word order is more flexible than English. The verb often comes at the end, but the earlier parts of the sentence can move around depending on emphasis, topic, or style.

Compare:

• Mesai bugün erken bitti
  Focus may feel slightly more on mesai
• Bugün mesai erken bitti
  Focus may feel slightly more on today

Both are natural. The difference is usually about emphasis, not basic meaning.

Because mesai is a singular noun.

Even though mesai can refer to a whole period of work, grammatically it is treated as one singular thing. So the verb is singular too:

• Mesai bitti = The workday ended

If the subject were plural, the verb form would change accordingly in some contexts, but here singular is completely normal.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Common uses include:

• mesai = work hours / shift / workday
• fazla mesai = overtime
• sometimes just mesai by itself can also imply overtime, depending on the situation

So in your sentence, you should rely on context. Without extra context, many learners can safely understand it as:

• Work ended early today
• The shift ended early today

You can understand it word-for-word like this:

• Mesai = work / shift
• bugün = today
• erken = early
• bitti = ended

So the literal order is:

• Work today early ended

But natural English would be:

• Work ended early today
• The shift ended early today

So the meaning matches well, but the word order is different from English.

A simple pronunciation guide:

• Mesai ≈ meh-SAH-ee
• bugün ≈ boo-GUEN or boo-GYN
• erken ≈ ER-ken
• bitti ≈ BIT-tee

A rough full pronunciation:

meh-SAH-ee boo-GYN ER-ken BIT-tee

A couple of useful notes:

• ü is not the same as English u. It is pronounced with rounded lips, somewhat like the u in French tu or German ü.
• Double tt in bitti is pronounced clearly, with a short crisp stop.

Yes, it is completely natural.

It sounds like something someone might say in everyday conversation about work:

• Mesai bugün erken bitti.
• Bugün mesai erken bitti.

Both are normal and idiomatic. This is a good practical sentence for learning common Turkish word order and basic past tense usage.