Learn Hardcore Turkish: Müdürümüz de beni toplantıya davet etti, ama müsait olamayacağım. - Our manager also invited me to the meeting, but I won’t be available.

müdürüm = my manager
müdürümüz = our manager
müdürünüz = your (pl.) manager
The vowel in the suffix changes with vowel harmony: -ımız / -imiz / -umuz / -ümüz. Here it’s -ümüz because müdür has the front rounded vowel ü.

What does de do in Müdürümüz de?

de/da is the additive particle “also/too/as well.” It attaches to the word it follows and focuses that element.

Müdürümüz de beni... = Our manager also invited me (in addition to someone else doing the inviting).
Müdürümüz beni de... = Our manager invited me too (in addition to inviting others).
Müdürümüz beni toplantıya da... = Our manager invited me to the meeting as well (perhaps to multiple events). Writing note: this de/da is written as a separate word and follows vowel harmony (de after front vowels, da after back vowels). It never becomes te/ta. Don’t confuse it with the locative suffix -de/-da, which is attached to the word and can surface as -te/-ta after voiceless consonants.

Why is it beni and not ben?

Because it’s the direct object of a transitive verb. Turkish marks definite/specific direct objects with the accusative:

ben (I) → beni (me, accusative) With davet etmek (to invite), the person invited is a definite direct object, so you say beni.

Why is it toplantıya and not toplantıyı?

The verb davet etmek takes:

the person invited in the accusative (here: beni), and
the destination in the dative: -e/-a → toplantı
- -a = toplantıya (“to the meeting”).
  So the pattern is: [someone-ACC] + [place/event-DAT] + davet etmek.

What is the extra -y- doing in toplantıya?

It’s a buffer letter to prevent two vowels from colliding. toplantı ends in a vowel (-ı), and the dative suffix begins with a vowel (-a/-e), so Turkish inserts y: toplantı + y + a → toplantıya.

What’s going on morphologically with davet etti?

davet etmek is a light-verb construction: davet (invitation) + etmek (to do) = “to invite.”
In the past tense, et- + -di → due to voicing assimilation, it becomes etti (not “eddi”). So: davet etti = “invited.”

Is the word order here typical?

Yes. Turkish is generally S–(O)–(Other)–V:

Müdürümüz de (subject + “also”), beni (object), toplantıya (goal), davet etti (verb). In the second clause, the verb olamayacağım carries the 1sg ending, so the subject ben is omitted (it’s understood).

Why the comma before ama?

It’s standard to place a comma before coordinating conjunctions like ama (but) when joining two clauses. You can also start a new sentence with Ama... in more informal writing.

What does müsait mean here?

müsait is an adjective meaning “available, free (time), convenient.” With olmak, it becomes “to be available.”

müsaitim = I’m available.
müsait değilim = I’m not available.
müsait olamayacağım = I won’t be able to be available / I can’t make it.

What’s the nuance difference between müsait olmayacağım and müsait olamayacağım?

müsait olmayacağım = “I will not be available” (a straightforward future negation; can imply a choice or simple fact).
müsait olamayacağım = “I will not be able to be available” (emphasizes inability/constraint; often sounds more apologetic/polite, like “I won’t be able to make it”).

How is olamayacağım formed and why not just olmayacağım?

olmayacağım = ol- (be) + -ma (negation) + -yacak (future) + -ım (1sg) → “I will not be.”
olamayacağım uses the inability pattern -a/e- + -ma before the future: ol-a-ma-yacak-ım → “I will not be able to be.”
In everyday speech, -a/e- + -ma- is the go-to way to say “cannot” in many tenses: gelemem (I can’t come), yapamıyorum (I can’t do [it, now]), olamayacağım (I won’t be able to be).

Could I say Toplantıya katılamayacağım instead? Is it more natural?

Yes. katılmak means “to attend, to participate” and takes the dative:

Toplantıya katılamayacağım = “I won’t be able to attend the meeting.”
This is a very common and natural way to decline a meeting. Your original müsait olamayacağım is also fine, but katılamayacağım directly targets attendance.

Why isn’t ben stated in the second clause?

Turkish is pro-drop: the verb ending shows the subject. -ım in olamayacağım marks first person singular, so ben is unnecessary unless you want emphasis (e.g., Ben müsait olamayacağım).

How do I pronounce the tricky vowels in this sentence?

ü (in Müdürümüz, müsait) is like French u (in “lune”) or German ü.
ı (dotless i, in toplantıya) is a central vowel, like the second vowel in “sofa” (American English), but shorter and tenser.
müsait is three syllables: mü-sa-it (the ai are pronounced separately).

Could I use çağırmak instead of davet etmek?

You can, but there’s a nuance:

davet etmek = to invite (more formal/polite, suitable for meetings/events).
çağırmak = to call/summon/invite (can be more casual or even sound like “summon” depending on context).
For workplace contexts like a meeting, davet etmek is usually more appropriate.