Turkish Relative Clauses: -(y)An vs -DIK
How Turkish builds relative clauses with a participle instead of a relative pronoun: the subject participle -(y)An when the head noun is the doer of the action, and -DIK with a possessive ending — plus the subject in the genitive — when it is not.
Ekle ·
A Turkish relative clause is a participle placed in front of the noun it describes, and the one thing you must decide is whether that noun is the doer of the action or not.
What a relative clause does
English hooks a clause onto a noun with a relative pronoun — "who", "which", "that". Turkish has none. Instead a participle, a verb reshaped into an adjective, sits in front of the noun and does the joining on its own. gelen mektup is "the letter that came": gelmek "to come" becomes a participle and lands straight before mektup.
There are two participles to choose between, and choosing the right one is the whole skill. A single question settles it: inside the little clause, is the head noun the one performing the action? Answer yes and you reach for one participle; answer no and you reach for the other, together with a small amount of extra marking.
Two participles, one decision
The subject participle is -(y)An, seen as -en in gelen mektup, "the letter that came"; it simply reshapes the verb into an adjective and marks nothing more. The non-subject participle is -DIK, seen here as -diği, and it always carries a possessive ending as well: görmek "to see" gives gördüğü, "the one that he saw".
| Verb | Head is the doer | Head is anything else |
|---|---|---|
| okumak | okuyan | okuduğu |
| görmek | gören | gördüğü |
| sevmek | seven | sevdiği |
With -DIK the doer of the little clause is spelled out too, and it stands in the genitive: adamın okuduğu kitap is "the book the man read", where the doer adam becomes adamın and okuduğu takes the matching possessive. The subject participle -(y)An needs none of this, since the head noun is already the doer.
When the noun is the doer
In each of these the head noun is the one acting — the child runs, the letter comes, the man reads — so the verb takes the plain -(y)An participle and nothing else is added. The doer is right there as the noun the clause describes.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| koşan çocuk | koş + an çocuk | the running child; the child who is running |
| gelen mektup | gel + en mektup | the incoming letter; the letter that comes |
| kitabı okuyan adam | kitabı oku + yan adam | the man reading the book; the man who is reading the book |
When the noun is not the doer
Here the head noun is on the receiving end — the book is read, the film is seen, the food is loved — so the verb takes -DIK with a possessive ending. The real doer is either named in the genitive or carried by that possessive ending alone.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| adamın okuduğu kitap | adamın oku + duğ + u kitap | the book that the man read |
| gördüğüm film | gör + düğ + üm film | the film that I saw |
| sevdiğim yemek | sev + diğ + im yemek | the food that I love |
The same words, roles swapped
These two phrases use the very same verb and the very same two nouns, and only the roles change. In kitabı okuyan adam the adam is doing the reading, so the verb is the subject participle okuyan. In adamın okuduğu kitap the reading lands on the kitap while the adam has moved into the genitive as adamın, so the verb is the non-subject participle okuduğu. Swap which noun is the doer and the participle swaps with it.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| kitabı okuyan adam | kitabı oku + yan adam | the man who reads the book — the man is the doer |
| adamın okuduğu kitap | adamın oku + duğ + u kitap | the book the man reads — the book is not the doer |
The two mistakes to avoid
Two errors mirror the two right answers. Keep the subject participle on a noun that is not the doer and you get the wrong adamın okuyan kitap — the kitap is not reading anything, so it has to be adamın okuduğu kitap. Put the non-subject participle on a doer and you get the wrong geldiği mektup — the mektup is the one coming, so it has to be gelen mektup.
No word for who, which or that
Turkish has no relative pronoun at all. Where English reaches for "who", "which" or "that" to fasten a clause onto a noun, Turkish reshapes the verb into a participle and sets it in front. That is why gelen mektup is two words for the English "the letter that came" — nothing in the Turkish stands in for "that".
Where the doer goes
With the -DIK participle the doer of the little clause must be named, and Turkish puts it in the genitive while the participle takes a matching possessive ending — the same agreement a possessor and its noun show. In adamın okuduğu kitap the doer is the genitive adamın and okuduğu ends in the possessive that agrees with him. When the doer is "I" or "we" the genitive is usually left unspoken and the ending alone shows who: gittiğimiz şehir is "the city we went to", with the possessive doing all the work.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| adamın okuduğu kitap | adamın oku + duğ + u kitap | the book the man read — the doer in the genitive |
| gittiğimiz şehir | git + tiğ + imiz şehir | the city we went to — the doer carried by the ending |
Frequently asked questions
- When do I use -(y)An and when -DIK?
- It depends on the head noun's role inside the little clause. If the head noun is the doer of the action, use the subject participle -(y)An, as in koşan çocuk, "the child who runs". If it is anything else — the thing acted on, a place, a time — use -DIK with a possessive, as in adamın okuduğu kitap, "the book the man read", where the doer becomes the genitive adamın.
- How do I tell which participle a relative clause needs?
- Ask one question: inside the little clause, is the head noun the one doing the action? In koşan çocuk the child runs, so the child is the doer and the verb takes -(y)An. In gördüğüm film I saw the film, so the film is the thing seen and the verb takes -DIK with a possessive ending that marks the real doer. Settle the doer question first and the participle follows.
- Why does the subject take the genitive in a -DIK clause?
- Because a -DIK participle is built like a possessive phrase, with the doer owning the action. So the doer stands in the genitive and the participle carries a matching possessive ending, exactly as a possessor and its noun agree. In adamın okuduğu kitap the doer adamın is genitive and okuduğu ends in the agreeing possessive. When the doer is "I" or "we" the genitive is usually left unsaid and the ending alone shows it, as in gittiğimiz şehir.
- What is the Turkish word for who, which or that in a relative clause?
- There is none. Turkish has no relative pronoun; the participle does the joining by itself. Where English fastens a clause on with "who", "which" or "that", Turkish reshapes the verb into a participle and sets it in front of the noun. That is why gelen mektup is two words for the English "the letter that came" — nothing translates "that".