Learn Turkish: Saat dokuza sekiz var, haber bültenine bağlanıyoruz. - It is eight to nine, we are connecting to the news bulletin.

To say it is "to" a certain hour in Turkish, we say there is (var) a certain number of minutes to the hour. The hour gets the dative case ending (-e or -a) to show direction. So, dokuza sekiz var literally translates to "To nine, there is eight [minutes]."

Can you break down the suffixes in bültenine?

Sure! The base word is bülten (bulletin). Because it is part of the noun compound haber bülteni (news bulletin), it gets the possessive suffix -i. Next, the verb bağlanmak (to connect to) requires the dative case (-e). When we add a case ending after a possessive suffix, we must use the buffer letter -n-. So it becomes bülten + -i + -n- + -e.

Does the verb bağlanmak always take the dative case?

Yes! In Turkish, you connect to something, so the destination you are connecting to must take the dative case (-e or -a). That is why we say haber bültenine bağlanıyoruz (we are connecting to the news bulletin).

I know the verb bağlamak means "to tie" or "to connect". What does the -n- do in ?