Learn Hardcore Turkish: Mesai bugün erken bitti.

Bold mesai bold means the official working hours or duty period (often office hours), not the job itself. It focuses on the schedule/time frame. By contrast, bold iş bold is “work” as an activity, and bold vardiya bold is a “shift.” You’ll also hear bold fazla mesai bold for “overtime.”

Where is the subject pronoun “it”? Why isn’t there an “it” in the sentence?

Turkish doesn’t use dummy subjects like English “it.” The subject is bold mesai bold, and Turkish drops pronouns whenever they’re obvious from context or verb endings. So bold Mesai bugün erken bitti bold literally says “Work-hours today early ended.” No extra pronoun is needed.

Why is it bold bitti bold and not bold bitirdi bold?

Bold bitmek bold is intransitive “to end/finish (by itself),” while bold bitirmek bold is transitive “to finish (something).”

In this sentence, the workday ended on its own: bold bitti bold.
If people actively finished it, you’d use bold bitirmek bold with an object: bold Mesaiyi erken bitirdik bold (We finished the workday early).

What tense/form is bold bitti bold?

It’s the simple past (di’li geçmiş zaman). Morphology: bold bit-mek → bit-ti bold. The past suffix appears as -di/-dı/-du/-dü, but after a voiceless consonant it surfaces as -ti/-tı/-tu/-tü, hence bold bitti bold. The double t is just the verb stem’s final t plus the suffix’s t.

Can I change the word order? Where do bold bugün bold and bold erken bold go?

Yes. Neutral, clear options:

bold Mesai bugün erken bitti bold (topic: mesai)
bold Bugün mesai erken bitti bold (topic: today) Adverbs like bold bugün bold and bold erken bold typically appear before the verb. Other orders like bold Mesai erken bugün bitti bold sound odd. Changing order mainly changes emphasis, not meaning.

How do I turn this into a yes/no question?

Add the question particle, which is written separately and follows vowel harmony:

bold Mesai bugün erken bitti mi? bold Variants: bold mı/mu/mü bold depending on the preceding vowel.

How do I ask “What time did it end?”

Use bold kaçta bold (“at what time”):

bold Mesai bugün kaçta bitti? bold
bold Bugün mesai kaçta bitti? bold Both are fine.

What’s the difference between bold erken bold and bold erkenden bold?

Bold erken bold is “early.” Bold erkenden bold means “quite early/earlier than usual/earlier than expected,” with a slightly stronger or comparative feel:

bold Mesai bugün erken bitti. bold (It ended early.)
bold Mesai bugün erkenden bitti. bold (It ended pretty early / earlier than usual.)

How do I say “earlier than usual”?

Common patterns:

bold Mesai bugün normalden daha erken bitti. bold
bold Mesai bugün her zamankinden daha erken bitti. bold

How do I express a habitual meaning like “Work usually ends early”?

Use the aorist (simple present):

bold Mesai genelde erken biter. bold Compare with the one-time past:
bold Mesai bugün erken bitti. bold

What’s the difference between bold bitti bold and bold bitmiş bold?

bold bitti bold: direct past—you witnessed/know it as a fact.
bold bitmiş bold: reported/inferential past—hearsay or deduction. Example: bold Mesai bugün erken bitmiş. bold = “Apparently/It seems the workday ended early today.”

Is bold mesai bold countable? Can I make it plural?

Bold mesai bold is typically uncountable. You don’t usually say bold mesailer bold. For multiple shifts, use bold vardiya(lar) bold. For “working hours,” use bold mesai saatleri bold (e.g., bold Mesai saatleri değişti. bold). In everyday speech, people still often just say bold mesai bold for the day’s work period.

Can I say “My shift ended early,” like bold Mesaim erken bitti bold?

Yes, colloquially you can add a possessive: bold mesaim bold (“my work hours/shift”). For example: bold Bugün mesaim erken bitti. bold This is common in workplaces with defined shifts or duty periods.

Are there synonyms for bold bitti bold here?

Yes:

bold Mesai bugün erken sona erdi. bold (more formal)
bold Mesai bugün erken sonlandı. bold (formal/organizational) They’re fine, but bold bitti bold is the most neutral and common.