Learn Turkish: Yavrucağız annesine sokulamadı, sürekli ürperdi. - The poor little one could not snuggle up to its mother; it shivered constantly.

Yavru means a baby or young animal. Adding -cağız (the diminutive of compassion) adds a strong feeling of pity, endearment, or helplessness. So yavrucağız means something like "the poor little baby" or "the helpless little one," which fits perfectly with the fact that it is shivering and cannot reach its mother.

Why does anne have the dative ending -e in annesine?

The verb sokulmak (to snuggle up to, to approach closely) requires the dative case for the destination or person being approached. Because the baby is snuggling up to its mother, anne gets the possessive suffix -si (its mother) followed by the buffer consonant -n- and the dative suffix -e, becoming annesine.

I recognize sokulmak and the negative past tense -madı, but what is the extra -a- in sokulamadı?

That -a- is the negative potential suffix (short for -ebilmek). While sokulmadı would simply mean "it did not snuggle up," sokulamadı means "it could not snuggle up." It emphasizes that the poor little one lacked the physical ability or opportunity to do it, rather than just choosing not to.

Does sokulmak literally mean "to snuggle"?