Participles & Relative Clauses (Sıfat-Fiiller / Ortaçlar) in Turkish
Participles and Relative Clauses (-en, -dik, -ecek)
Turkish forms relative clauses without relative pronouns using subject participles (-An) and object participles (-DIk / -AcAk + possessive).
Turkish does not use relative pronouns like who, which, that to form relative clauses; instead, it uses *Participles (Sıfat-Fiiller or Ortaçlar)*, which modify the head noun directly from the left (pre-nominal modification).
Two major structural classes exist: 1. Subject Participle (-(y)An): Used when the head noun is the subject of the relative clause ('the person who does X'): - Koş-an çocuk (the child who runs / running child) - Gelen misafirler (the guests who are coming / who came) - Dün beni ara-y-an adam (the man who called me yesterday). 2. Object / Non-Subject Participle (-DIk and -(y)AcAk + Possessive): Used when the head noun is the object or peripheral argument of the relative clause ('the thing that X does'): - Past/Present: -DIk + possessive suffix (oku-duğ-um kitap = the book that I read; gör-düğ-ün ev = the house that you saw; yaşa-dığ-ımız şehir = the city where we live). - Future: -(y)AcAk + possessive suffix (yap-acağ-ım iş = the work that I will do; kal-acağ-ımız otel = the hotel where we will stay).
Notice the consonant softening k → ğ before possessives (gördük-üm → gördüğüm). This is the hallmark of Turkish complex sentence syntax.
Examples
Dün kütüphanede tanıştığım öğrenci bana çok yardımcı oldu.
The student I met in the library yesterday was very helpful to me.
Gelecek hafta yapacağımız önemli sınav için şimdiden hazırlanıyoruz.
We are already preparing for the important exam that we will take next week.
Bahçede neşeyle koşan küçük çocuklar oyun oynuyorlar.
The little children running cheerfully in the garden are playing games.
Geçen yıl kaldığımız o sakin oteli hiç unutamıyorum.
I can never forget that peaceful hotel where we stayed last year.
Related terms
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