Basic Participles in Turkish

In Brief

Turkish usually expresses “the person who…” or “the thing that…” by placing a verb-based description before the noun. Use -en/-an when the described noun performs the action (gelen adam, “the man who comes/came”), and commonly use -(d)ik + a possessive ending when someone else performs it (okuduğum kitap, “the book I read”). -ecek/-acak gives a future, expected, or intended meaning: yapılacak iş (“work to be done”).

Overview

A participle is a verb form that acts like an adjective—that is, it uses an action to describe a person or thing. Turkish calls these forms sıfat-fiiller (“adjective-verbs”). They do much of the work that English relative clauses with who, which, or that do: Türkçe konuşan kadın means “the woman who speaks Turkish.” There is normally no separate Turkish word corresponding to English “who” or “that.”

The major adjustment for an English-speaking learner is word order. English puts a relative clause after its noun: “the book that I bought yesterday.” Turkish puts the complete description before the noun: dün aldığım kitap. The head noun (the main person or thing being described) arrives last. Learning to wait for that final noun is important both when speaking and when listening.

At A2, the useful beginner distinction is based on the described noun’s role. Is it doing the action? Start with -en/-an. Is another person doing something to, with, or about it? Start with -(d)ik and a possessive ending. For future or intended situations, use -ecek/-acak, with agreement when another subject is expressed. These forms are not identical to ordinary Turkish tense endings, even when they resemble them.

How It Works

The sentence becomes a description

Compare an independent sentence with the noun phrase built from it:

Independent sentence	Participle phrase	What changed?
Adam geliyor. — The man is coming.	gelen adam — the man who is coming	The subject adam becomes the described noun.
Ben kitabı okudum. — I read the book.	okuduğum kitap — the book that I read	Kitap is described; “I” is marked on the participle.
Toplantı yarın yapılacak. — The meeting will be held tomorrow.	yarın yapılacak toplantı — the meeting to be held tomorrow	The future passive verb describes toplantı.

Everything that belongs to the description precedes the final noun:

• bahçede oynayan çocuklar — the children who are playing in the garden
• geçen hafta izlediğimiz film — the film that we watched last week
• gelecek ay açılacak mağaza — the shop that will open next month

1. -en/-an: the described noun performs the action

Add -en after a stem whose last vowel is e, i, ö, ü, and -an after one whose last vowel is a, ı, o, u. This is two-way vowel harmony.

Verb	Formation	Phrase	English
gelmek — to come	gel-en	gelen tren	the train that is coming/came
çalışmak — to work	çalış-an	çalışan kadın	the woman who works/is working
gülmek — to laugh	gül-en	gülen çocuk	the child who is laughing
konuşmak — to speak	konuş-an	konuşan kişi	the person who is speaking

After a vowel-final stem, insert y: oku-yan öğrenci (“the student who is reading”), bekle-yen insanlar (“the people who are waiting”). Negation comes before the participle: gel-me-yen misafir (“the guest who did not come / is not coming”), çalış-ma-yan telefon (“the phone that does not work”).

This form does not by itself fix the action in the present or past. Context supplies the time:

• dün gelen paket — the package that arrived yesterday
• şimdi gelen otobüs — the bus arriving now
• her gün gelen müşteri — the customer who comes every day

The reliable core rule is about role, not time: the package arrived, the bus is arriving, and the customer comes. Each described noun is the subject (the doer or experiencer) of its participle.

2. -(d)ik with possessive endings: someone else performs the action

Use the -(d)ik family when the described noun is not the subject of the action. It may be the object, destination, source, or another part of the underlying sentence. The person who does the action is shown by a possessive ending (an ending that here marks “my/your/his…” on the participle).

The suffix has four vowel-harmony forms: -dik, -dık, -duk, -dük. After the voiceless consonants f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p, initial d becomes t: -tik, -tık, -tuk, -tük. When a vowel-initial possessive ending follows, final k normally changes to ğ.

Person doing the action	okumak form	Phrase	English
I	okuduğum	okuduğum kitap	the book I read/am reading
you (singular, informal)	okuduğun	okuduğun kitap	the book you read
he/she/it	okuduğu	okuduğu kitap	the book he/she read
we	okuduğumuz	okuduğumuz kitap	the book we read
you (plural/formal)	okuduğunuz	okuduğunuz kitap	the book you read
they	okudukları	okudukları kitap	the book they read

Do not interpret these endings as possession of the final noun. In okuduğum kitap, the ending -um identifies me as the reader; it does not mean “my book.”

If the subordinate subject is stated, it normally takes the genitive case (the ending often translated with English “of” or possessive ’s):

• Ayşe’nin okuduğu kitap — the book that Ayşe read
• çocukların oynadığı park — the park where the children play
• senin bana verdiğin anahtar — the key that you gave me

The described noun does not have to be a direct object:

• gittiğimiz restoran — the restaurant we went to
• oturduğun sandalye — the chair you are sitting on
• çıktığı kapı — the door he/she went out through

English keeps words such as “to,” “on,” and “through.” Turkish often leaves the relationship to the participle and context when the noun is brought outside the clause as the head noun.

Negation again precedes the participle suffix: bilmediğim kelime (“the word I do not know”), sevmediği yemek (“the food he/she does not like”).

3. -ecek/-acak: future, expected, or intended descriptions

The two-way forms -ecek/-acak create future-oriented descriptions. They can describe a noun that will perform the action:

• gelecek misafirler — the guests who will come
• başlayacak ders — the class that will start

When another subject will perform the action, add the same possessive-style person endings. Before a vowel-initial ending, k becomes ğ:

Person doing the action	Form	Example	English
I	yapacağım	yapacağım iş	the work I will do
you	yapacağın	yapacağın iş	the work you will do
he/she	yapacağı	yapacağı iş	the work he/she will do
we	yapacağımız	yapacağımız iş	the work we will do
you (plural/formal)	yapacağınız	yapacağınız iş	the work you will do
they	yapacakları	yapacakları iş	the work they will do

A passive form is especially common when the doer is unknown or unimportant: yapılacak iş can mean “work that will be done,” “work to be done,” or simply “work to do.” Likewise, okunacak kitaplar are “books to be read,” and görüşülecek konular are “topics to be discussed.”

Negation comes before -ecek/-acak: gelmeyecek tren (“the train that will not come”), almayacağım ürün (“the product I will not buy”).

A practical choice chart

Meaning you want	Core form	Example
the noun does/did/is doing the action	-en/-an	koşan adam — the man who runs/ran
someone does/did the action involving the noun	-(d)ik + person ending	gördüğüm adam — the man I saw
the noun will do the action	-ecek/-acak	koşacak adam — the man who will run
someone will do the action involving the noun	-ecek/-acak + person ending	göreceğim adam — the man I will see
the noun is intended or expected to undergo an action	passive + -ecek/-acak	gönderilecek dosya — the file to be sent

Examples in Context

Turkish	English	Note
Kapıda bekleyen kadın öğretmenim.	The woman waiting at the door is my teacher.	The woman performs beklemek.
Dün gelen e-postayı okudun mu?	Did you read the email that arrived yesterday?	Dün gives gelen a past reading.
Türkçe konuşan bir doktor arıyoruz.	We are looking for a doctor who speaks Turkish.	General ability with -an.
Çalışmayan bilgisayarı tamir ettim.	I repaired the computer that was not working.	Negative -ma-y-an.
Bu, geçen yıl okuduğum kitap.	This is the book I read last year.	The reader is “I.”
Senin önerdiğin restoran çok güzeldi.	The restaurant you recommended was very nice.	Overt subject senin plus önerdiğin.
Çocukların oynadığı park evimize yakın.	The park where the children play is near our home.	The children are the subordinate subject.
Bana verdiğiniz adresi bulamadım.	I could not find the address you gave me.	-diğiniz can be formal singular or plural.
Geçen hafta izlediğimiz film gerçek bir hikâyeye dayanıyor.	The film we watched last week is based on a true story.	“We” is marked by -ğimiz.
Yarın gelecek misafirler için yemek hazırlıyoruz.	We are preparing food for the guests who will come tomorrow.	The guests will perform the action.
Toplantıda konuşacağımız konular bunlar.	These are the topics we will discuss at the meeting.	“We” performs the future action.
İmzalanacak belgeler masanın üstünde.	The documents to be signed are on the table.	Future/intended passive.
Almayacağım şeyler için para harcamam.	I do not spend money on things I will not buy.	Negative future participle with “I.”
Yapılacak çok iş var.	There is a lot of work to be done.	A frequent impersonal pattern.

Common Mistakes

Using -en/-an when the noun does not perform the action

• Wrong: Ben okuyan kitap çok ilginç.
• Right: Benim okuduğum kitap çok ilginç.
• Meaning: “The book I read is very interesting.”
• Why: The book does not read; I read the book. Use -(d)ik and mark the reader.

Treating -(d)ik as an ordinary past-tense ending

• Wrong: okudum kitap
• Right: okuduğum kitap
• Why: Okudum is a complete statement, “I read.” Before a described noun, the participle needs the possessive-style ending: okuduğum.

Forgetting the person ending

• Wrong: bizim gördük film
• Right: bizim gördüğümüz film
• Why: In this relative construction, -(d)ik normally agrees with the action’s subject: gördüğümüz marks “we.”

Copying English relative-clause order

• Wrong: kitap benim dün aldığım
• Right: benim dün aldığım kitap
• Why: In a normal Turkish noun phrase, the complete participial description comes before the noun. The wrong version could occur only in a different sentence structure, not as a direct copy of “the book that I bought yesterday.”

Using -(d)ik for every past meaning

• Wrong: dün geldiğim adam for “the man who came yesterday”
• Right: dün gelen adam
• Why: The man is the one who came, so use -en/-an. Choose by the noun’s role before worrying about time.

Missing sound changes

• Wrong: okudıkım kitap, yapacakım iş
• Right: okuduğum kitap, yapacağım iş
• Why: Apply vowel harmony, and remember that final k becomes ğ before many possessive endings.

Usage Notes

Turkish participles are ordinary, frequent grammar—not a formal alternative to a simpler spoken construction. Native speakers routinely use phrases such as bildiğim kadarıyla (“as far as I know”), sevdiğim insanlar (“the people I love”), and gideceğimiz yer (“the place we will go”). English speakers may be tempted to build two short sentences instead; doing so is understandable, but participles make Turkish more connected and natural.

A bare -en/-an form is flexible in time. Add an adverb when timing matters: az önce çıkan müşteri (“the customer who left a moment ago”), şu anda çalışan makine (“the machine currently operating”). By contrast, -ecek/-acak explicitly points forward or presents something as planned, expected, or assigned.

The forms can also stand without a following noun when the missing noun is obvious. In English, this often requires “the one(s)” or “those”:

• Gelen kim? — Who is the one who came/is coming?
• Kırmızı olanı alacağım. — I will buy the red one.
• İstediğini seç. — Choose the one you want / Choose whatever you want.

Case and plural endings attach after the participial form or after the final noun as required by the larger sentence: gelenleri gördüm (“I saw those who came”), okuduğum kitabı verdim (“I gave away the book I read”).

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to produce all of the following at A2, but recognising it will prevent the beginner rules from becoming misleading.

First, -(d)ik is not simply a past participle. In her gün kullandığım otobüs (“the bus I use every day”), the action is habitual and present. Its key job here is to build a non-subject relative clause; time comes from context. Other participles, including -miş, -r, and more complex combinations, add contrasts that belong to advanced participles.

Second, Turkish can nest participial descriptions:

• okuduğum kitabı yazan kadın — the woman who wrote the book that I read

Work from the inside out. Okuduğum kitap is “the book I read”; that whole phrase becomes the object inside [okuduğum kitabı] yazan kadın, “the woman who wrote [the book I read].” Long written sentences may contain several such layers.

Third, the same -(d)ik + possessive form also helps create noun clauses—verb-based groups that function as a thing rather than directly describing a following noun:

• Geldiğini biliyorum. — I know that you came / have come.

Compare geldiğin gün (“the day you came”), where gün is described, with geldiğini biliyorum, where the whole event is the object of “know.” The form looks similar, but its job in the sentence differs.

Finally, voice changes who counts as the grammatical subject. Compare raporu yazan uzman (“the specialist who writes/wrote the report”) with uzman tarafından yazılan rapor (“the report written by the specialist”). In the passive version, rapor is the subject of yazılmak, so -an is appropriate even though the specialist is the real-world agent.

Practice Tips

1. Transform pairs of sentences. Start with Ayşe kahve yaptı. Kahve çok güzeldi. Then combine them as Ayşe’nin yaptığı kahve çok güzeldi. This makes the subject agreement visible.
2. Ask who performs the action. For every noun phrase, underline the final noun and ask, “Does this noun do the verb?” If yes, try -en/-an; if no, identify who does it and use -(d)ik with the matching ending.
3. Build phrases from the noun backwards. Choose kitap, then add aldığım kitap, then dün aldığım kitap, and finally dün İstanbul’da aldığım kitap. This trains Turkish order without translating an entire English relative clause word by word.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Past Tense (-di) — provides familiar verb stems and past-event vocabulary for building participial descriptions.
• Next step: Noun Clauses — uses related -(d)ik + possessive forms to make an event function as a noun.
• Next step: Advanced Participles — expands the system with additional participles and nested relative clauses.