what is it?
Turkish has no relative pronouns like «who» or «which». Instead, it uses participial suffixes attached directly to the verb of the relative clause. When the noun being modified is the subject of that clause, Turkish uses -(y)An (A2). When the noun is anything else — the object, the location, the destination, the instrument — Turkish uses -DIK for non-future meaning or -(y)AcAK for prospective (future) meaning, and the suffix must be followed by a possessive ending that agrees with the subject of the relative clause. The result is a noun phrase such as okuduğum kitap «the book I read» or gideceğimiz şehir «the city we will go to».
when to use it
Use -DIK / -(y)AcAK + possessive whenever the head noun plays any role other than subject inside the relative clause.
Direct object. The head noun is what someone does something to: okuduğum kitap — «the book I read».
Location or path. The head noun is where someone is, sits, or goes: oturduğun sandalye — «the chair you sit on».
Destination (prospective). Use -(y)AcAK when the action is in the future: gideceğimiz şehir — «the city we will go to».
Any other oblique role. Instrument, beneficiary, source — if the head noun is not the doer of the action, this construction applies.
Quick test: ask «who does the action?». If the answer is the head noun, use -(y)An. If the answer is someone or something else, use -DIK / -(y)AcAK + possessive.
formation
The structure is: verb stem + -DIK / -(y)AcAK + possessive suffix. Both suffixes follow standard 4-way vowel harmony. If the relative clause has an explicit subject (other than the speaker), that subject takes the genitive case, and the possessive on the verb agrees with it.
The -DIK suffix surfaces as -dık / -dik / -duk / -dük or -tık / -tik / -tuk / -tük depending on the final consonant of the stem (voicing assimilation). The -(y)AcAK suffix surfaces as -acak / -ecek; the buffer -y- is inserted after vowel-final stems.
| person | -DIK form (oku- «read») | -(y)AcAK form (git- «go») |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | okuduğum | gideceğim |
| 2nd sg. | okuduğun | gideceğin |
| 3rd sg. | okuduğu | gideceği |
| 1st pl. | okuduğumuz | gideceğimiz |
| 2nd pl. | okuduğunuz | gideceğiniz |
| 3rd pl. | okudukları | gidecekleri |
Notice that -DIK + 3rd-person possessive causes the final k to soften to ğ before a vowel-initial suffix: okuduk + u → okuduğu. The same softening applies to -(y)AcAK: gidecek + i → gideceği.
When the relative clause has an explicit third-person subject, add the genitive to that subject and use the 3rd-person possessive on the verb:
examples in context
common pitfalls
Using -(y)An for a non-subject relative.
-(y)An is only correct when the head noun is the doer of the action. «The book I read» is okuduğum kitap, not *okuyan kitap (which would mean «the book that reads», i.e. the book is doing the reading).
Dropping the possessive suffix.
The possessive is not optional — it is what marks the person of the relative-clause subject. *okuduk kitap is ungrammatical; the correct form is okuduğum kitap (1st sg.) or okuduğun kitap (2nd sg.), etc.
Forgetting the genitive on an explicit relative-clause subject.
When the subject of the relative clause is stated explicitly, it must take the genitive case. *annem yaptığı yemek is wrong; the correct form is annemin yaptığı yemek. The genitive on the subject and the possessive on the verb form a matched pair.