Learn Turkish: Köprüde çok trafik vardı, toplantıya yetişemedik. - There was a lot of traffic on the bridge, we could not make it to the meeting.

Let's break it down: the verb root is yetiş (make it in time / catch). The -e is the inability marker (showing you were unable to do it), followed by -me (negative), -di (past tense), and -k (we). Together, yetiş-e-me-di-k means 'we were unable to make it in time'.

Why is there a -ya on the end of toplantı (meeting)?

The verb yetişmek requires the dative case (the 'to/towards' suffix) because you are trying to reach towards an event or place. Since toplantı ends in a vowel, it takes the buffer letter -y- followed by the dative suffix -a, becoming toplantıya (to the meeting).

I know var means 'there is', so how exactly is vardı formed?

Vardı is simply the past tense of var. By adding the past tense suffix -dı to var (existent), it becomes 'there was' or 'existed'. If you wanted to say there wasn't any traffic, you would use its opposite, yoktu.

Why does Turkish use -de in köprüde instead of a specific word for 'on'?