The kinetic data of magnesium and inorganic phosphate inhibition of the (Na+,K+)-dependent ATP hydrolysis are consistent with a model where both ligands act independently and their release in the ATPase cycle is an ordered process where inorganic phosphate is released first. The effects of magnesium on the stimulation of the ATPase activity by Na+, K+ and ATP, and the inhibition of that activity by inorganic phosphate, are consistent with Mg2+ acting both as a 'product' and as a dead-end inhibitor. The dead-end Mg-enzyme complex would be produced with an enzyme form located downstream in the reaction sequence from the point where Mg2+ acts as a 'product' inhibitor. In the absence of K+, Mg2+ inhibition was reduced when either Na+ or ATP concentrations were increased well beyond those concentrations needed to saturate their high-affinity sites. This ATP effect suggests that the dead-end Mg-enzyme complex formation is affected by the speed of the E2-E1 conformational change. The present model is consistent with the formation of an Mg-phosphoenzyme complex insensitive to K+ which could become K+-sensitive in the presence of high Na+ concentrations. These Mg-enzyme complexes appear as intermediaries in the Na+-ATPase activity found in the absence of external Na+ and K+. These results can be interpreted on the basis of Mg2+ binding to a single site in the enzyme molecule. In addition, these experiments provide kinetic evidence indicating that the stimulation by external Na+ of the ATPase activity in the absence of K+ is due to a K+-like action of Na+ on the external K+ sites.