Ekim sonunda toplantıya geç kalmam için hiçbir mazeret kalmadı.

Ekim sonunda means at the end of October or sometimes by the end of October, depending on context.

Why sonunda?

• son = end
• sonu = its end / the end of it
• sonunda = at its end / at the end of it

In Turkish, time expressions like this often use a possessed form:

• ayın sonunda = at the end of the month
• haftanın sonunda = at the end of the week
• Ekim sonunda = at the end of October

So this is a very normal Turkish pattern, not something you should translate word-for-word too mechanically.

Because geç kalmak takes the dative case.

• toplantı = meeting
• toplantıya = to the meeting

In Turkish, you are late to something:

• okula geç kaldım = I was late for school
• derse geç kaldı = he/she was late for class
• toplantıya geç kalmam = my being late for the meeting

The -y- is just a buffer consonant between the noun and the ending:

• toplantı + a → toplantıya

Geç kalmak is a set expression meaning to be late.

Literally, the parts are:

• geç = late
• kalmak = to stay, remain

But together, geç kalmak means to be late. It is best learned as a single expression.

Examples:

• Otobüse geç kaldım. = I was late for the bus.
• Toplantıya geç kalma. = Don’t be late for the meeting.

Because here the verb has been turned into a noun-like form.

• kalmak = to be late / to remain
• kalmam = my being late / that I am late

More exactly:

• kalma- = verbal noun stem
• -m = first person possessive marker

So geç kalmam means my being late or me being late.

This is very common in Turkish when an action has to function like a noun inside a bigger sentence.

For example:

• gelmem = my coming
• gitmen = your going
• geç kalmam = my being late

İçin often means for, because of, or for the purpose of, depending on context.

Here, geç kalmam için means something like:

• for my being late
• as a reason for my being late

In this sentence, it goes naturally with mazeret:

• bir şey için mazeret = an excuse for something

So:

• toplantıya geç kalmam için mazeret = an excuse for my being late to the meeting

This does not mean purpose here, like in order for me to be late. The surrounding word mazeret makes it clear that it means an excuse/reason.

This is a normal feature of Turkish called negative concord.

• hiçbir = no / not any
• kalmadı = did not remain / was not left

Together:

• hiçbir mazeret kalmadı = no excuse was left

In English, using two negatives can sometimes sound wrong, but in Turkish this is standard:

• Hiçbir şey görmedim. = I saw nothing.
• Kimse gelmedi. = Nobody came.
• Hiçbir mazeret kalmadı. = No excuse remained.

So this is not a mistake and not a double negative in the English sense.

Mazeret kalmadı literally means no excuse remained or there was no excuse left.

This is slightly different from mazeret yoktu:

• mazeret yoktu = there was no excuse
• mazeret kalmadı = no excuse remained / no excuse was left

The verb kalmak often means to remain or to be left. So kalmadı suggests that perhaps there may once have been possible excuses, but by that point, they were gone.

So kalmadı adds a sense of no longer.

Kalmadı is in the simple past tense.

Breakdown:

• kal- = remain
• -ma- = negative
• -dı = past tense

So:

• kaldı = remained
• kalmadı = did not remain / was not left

Depending on context, you might translate the whole sentence in English as:

• There was no excuse left for me to be late to the meeting at the end of October.
• By the end of October, I had no excuse left for being late to the meeting.

The main subject is hiçbir mazeret.

So structurally, the sentence is basically:

• Ekim sonunda = time phrase
• toplantıya geç kalmam için = for my being late to the meeting
• hiçbir mazeret = no excuse
• kalmadı = remained not / was not left

The I is only inside kalmam, which means my being late. It is not the subject of the main verb.

So the main clause is really:

• No excuse remained

And the rest tells us for what and when.

Turkish word order is flexible, but this version is very natural.

Current order:

• Ekim sonunda = time first
• toplantıya geç kalmam için = explanation/context
• hiçbir mazeret = subject
• kalmadı = verb at the end

This is a common Turkish pattern: put time/context first, and keep the verb at the end.

You could rearrange parts for emphasis, but the given sentence sounds smooth and neutral. For example, Turkish often puts the most important new information right before the verb, and here hiçbir mazeret is closely tied to kalmadı.

So even though Turkish is flexible, this order is not random.

It can suggest either one in English, depending on the wider context.

• at the end of October focuses on a point in time
• by the end of October focuses on the situation having become true by then

Because the sentence says hiçbir mazeret kalmadı, English often prefers by the end of October:

• By the end of October, there was no excuse left...

That is because kalmadı implies a result reached by that time.

So grammatically Ekim sonunda is literally at the end of October, but in natural translation by the end of October may fit better.