Breakdown of Toplantının ne zaman biteceği meçhul.
toplantı
meeting
bitmek
to finish / to end
ne zaman
when
meçhul
unknown / uncertain (unidentified, anonymous)
Questions & Answers about Toplantının ne zaman biteceği meçhul.
Why does biteceği not have an accusative case ending (like biteceğini) here?
In earlier lessons, you probably saw these -(y)AcAk clauses as the direct object of a verb (like Toplantının ne zaman biteceğini biliyorum - I know when the meeting will end). When a clause is the object, it takes the accusative case. But in this sentence, the entire clause Toplantının ne zaman biteceği is the subject of the sentence (it is the thing that is unknown). Subjects in Turkish take zero case (the nominative), so the word simply ends with the possessive suffix -i.
Why is toplantı in the genitive case (toplantının)?
When you turn a full sentence into a noun clause using -dIk or -(y)AcAk, the doer of that action must take the genitive case. Here, the meeting is the thing doing the ending, so it becomes toplantının. This pairs with the possessive suffix on the verb (biteceği), creating a literal structure like: The meeting's future-ending is unknown.
Why use biteceği (-(y)AcAk) instead of bittiği (-dIk)?
The choice between -dIk and -(y)AcAk depends on the timeframe of the event relative to now. Because the meeting hasn't ended yet, we use the future suffix -(y)AcAk (which softens to -eceğ-). If you wanted to say 'It is unknown when the meeting ended' (referring to a past event), you would use -dIk and say Toplantının ne zaman bittiği meçhul.