Öğretmen, toplantıda telefonumu sessize almamı istedi.

Because Turkish normally puts the main finite verb at the end.

In this sentence, toplantıda telefonumu sessize almamı is the thing the teacher wanted/requested, and istedi is the main verb, so it comes last.

A very literal English-like breakdown would be:

Teacher, at the meeting, my putting my phone on silent wanted/requested.

That sounds strange in English, but it is normal Turkish structure.

Toplantıda comes from:

• toplantı = meeting
• -da = in / at / during

So toplantıda means in the meeting, at the meeting, or during the meeting, depending on how you translate it naturally into English.

Turkish uses the locative ending -da / -de / -ta / -te where English might use several different prepositions.

Because telefonumu means my phone as a specific object.

It breaks down like this:

• telefon = phone
• -um = my
• -u = accusative case, marking a definite direct object

So:

• telefon = phone
• telefonum = my phone
• telefonumu = my phone, as the specific thing being acted on

Here, the phone is the object of sessize almak, so the accusative is used.

Sessize almak is a very common expression meaning to put on silent, to switch to silent mode, or to mute a phone.

Literally, it is something like:

• sessiz = silent
• sessize almak = to take into silent mode

You should treat sessize almak as a set phrase, especially for phones.

Because this expression uses the dative ending:

• sessiz = silent
• sessize = into silence / to silent mode

The verb almak in this phrase works with that -e / -a ending. So Turkish says:

• telefonu sessize almak = to put the phone on silent

This is one of those cases where the case ending is part of the fixed expression, so it is best learned as a whole chunk: sessize almak.

It is built from several parts:

• al- = take
• -ma = verbal noun / action noun marker
• -m = my / I
• -ı = accusative

So almamı literally means something like my taking or me taking it.

In better English, here it means:

for me to put it on silent

This is a very common Turkish pattern after verbs like istemek. Instead of using a plain English-style infinitive such as to put, Turkish often uses a nominalized verb with a possessive ending:

• gelmemi istedi = he/she wanted me to come
• yapmamı istedi = he/she wanted me to do it
• almamı istedi = he/she wanted me to take/put it

Because the idea of me is already built into almamı.

The -m part shows that I am the person who is supposed to do the action. So Turkish does not need a separate word like English does.

That is why:

• almamı istedi = asked/wanted me to take it

If you really wanted to make the person explicit, Turkish can sometimes add benden, but it is often unnecessary because the suffix already tells you who the doer is.

Yes, istemek basically means to want. But with this kind of structure, it often becomes to want someone to do something, which in English is very often translated as ask or tell someone to.

So:

• kahve istedi = he/she wanted coffee
• gelmemi istedi = he/she wanted me to come / asked me to come

In this sentence, because the subject is the teacher and the context is a meeting, English naturally chooses asked.

Because Turkish does not have a word exactly like the English definite article the.

So:

• öğretmen can mean the teacher or sometimes just teacher, depending on context
• bir öğretmen means a teacher

In this sentence, English usually says the teacher because it sounds most natural in context.

Not really. It is mostly a stylistic pause here.

You will very often see the sentence written without it:

Öğretmen toplantıda telefonumu sessize almamı istedi.

That version is completely normal. The comma just gives a slight pause or emphasis to Öğretmen.

There are two different actions here:

1. The teacher did the main action: istedi

   • Öğretmen ... istedi = The teacher asked/wanted

2. I was supposed to do the second action: almamı

   • almamı = my taking / me putting it on silent

So the sentence means:

• The teacher asked
• me to put
• my phone
• on silent
• during the meeting

This kind of split is very common in Turkish: the main verb has one subject, and the embedded -ma / -me form shows the subject of the smaller action.