Subject relative -(y)An / -(y)En

The suffix -(y)An / -(y)En attaches to a verb stem and turns it into an adjective-like modifier that sits directly before a noun. It expresses the subject of that verb — the person or thing doing the action — and is equivalent to English relative clauses such as «the man who came», «the children who are playing», or «someone who speaks Turkish». Unlike English relative clauses, the modifier always comes before the noun it describes. The suffix carries no tense of its own; context determines whether the meaning is past, present, or habitual.

• The modified noun is the subject of the embedded verb. Use -(y)An when the noun you are describing is the one performing the action: gelen adam (the man who came — the man is the one who came).

• Describing people, things, or places by what they do or did. Any noun can be modified: a person (oynayan çocuklar), a place, or an abstract thing.

• Relativizing a noun or adjective predicate — use olan. When the «predicate» is not a verb but a noun or adjective (e.g. «the car that is red»), Turkish uses the verb ol- plus -(y)An to produce olan: kırmızı olan araba (the car that is red).

• Negative: -mAyAn. To say «the one who does not / did not …», add the negative marker -mA- before the suffix, giving -mAyAn: çalışmayan öğrenci (the student who doesn't study).

The suffix follows two-way vowel harmony based on the last vowel of the stem. If the stem ends in a consonant, attach the suffix directly. If the stem ends in a vowel, insert the buffer consonant -y- first.

For the negative, insert -mA- between the stem and the suffix. Because -mA- itself ends in a vowel, the buffer -y- is always required before the suffix, regardless of the original stem.

• Using -(y)An for object or other non-subject relatives. -(y)An only works when the modified noun is the subject of the embedded verb. For object relatives («the book that I read») Turkish requires a different suffix (-DIK / -(y)AcAK with a possessive), which is a B2 topic. At A2, limit -(y)An to subject relatives.

• Placing the modifier after the noun (English word order). In Turkish the modifier always comes before the noun. ✗ adam gelen → ✓ gelen adam.

• Forgetting the -y- buffer on vowel-final stems. When the stem ends in a vowel, the buffer consonant -y- is obligatory. ✗ okuan → ✓ okuyan; ✗ bekleen → ✓ bekleyen.

• Forgetting olan when the predicate is a noun or adjective. You cannot attach -(y)An directly to an adjective or noun. Use olan instead. ✗ öğretmenen kadın → ✓ öğretmen olan kadın (the woman who is a teacher).

• Dropping the -y- buffer in the negative form. The negative marker -mA- ends in a vowel, so the buffer -y- is always needed. ✗ gelmeen → ✓ gelmeyen; ✗ çalışmaan → ✓ çalışmayan.