17.1 PARTICIPLES / RELATIVE CLAUSES
We use participles to connect a verb to a noun. This results in relative clauses, for example – clauses that, in simple terms, can be translated as “something that” or “someone who.”
17.1.1 Participle with “-dik”
This suffix follows complex vowel harmony and can therefore take on the following forms:
-dık, -dik, -duk, -dük
Following hard consonants: -tık, -tik, -tuk, -tük
Furthermore, the possessive suffix is attached to this suffix. The result is that the k in ‑dik is softened to ğ – except for in the third person plural.
Sample sentences:
Kaçırdığım tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that I missed will stop in Ankara. or literally: … the train that escaped me …
Kaçırdığın tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that you missed …
Kaçırdığı tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that he / she / it missed …
Kaçırdığımız tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that we missed …
Kaçırdığınız tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that you [plural] / you [formal] missed …
Kaçırdıkları tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that they missed …
The suffix itself has no tense. This means that only the context indicates the tense (present or future) that’s being used.
Therefore, gördüğün kadın can mean both “the woman whom you saw” and “the woman whom you see.” Only the context in which the sentence is spoken makes it clear.
The negation is formed by placing -me / -ma before the participle:
Kaçırmadığım tren Ankara’da duracak. = The train that I didn’t miss …
görmediğin kadın = the woman whom you didn’t see
17.1.2 Participle with “-(y)en / -(y)an”
In Turkish, there’s no direct translation for “that” or “who / whom” as they are used in relative clauses. This is solved with the suffix
-(y)en / -(y)an (simple vowel harmony)
Examples:
kalan yemek = the food that is left over
gelen adam = the man who comes
With vowel endings, a y is inserted, as is often the case:
bekleyen kız = the girl who waits
The negation is formed by placing -me / -ma before the participle:
kalmayan yemek = the food that isn’t left over
gelmeyen adam = the man who doesn’t come
17.1.3 Participle with “-(y)ecek / -(y)acak”
Another participle to form a relative clause uses the suffix
-(y)ecek / -(y)acak (simple vowel harmony)
It’s actually identical to the future suffix -ecek / -acak, but because it’s a participle forming a connection to an object in this case, there’s no risk of a mix-up.
Examples:
kalacak yemek = the food that will be left over
gelecek adam = the man who will come
You know this term already:
gelecek zaman means “the future,” but literally: “the time that will come”
The negation is formed by placing -me / -ma before the participle:
kalmayacak yemek = the food that won’t be left over
gelmeyecek adam = the man who won’t come
17.2 THE (Y)İP PARTICIPLE
The suffix -(y)ip, or -(y)ıp, -(y)up, or -(y)üp (complex vowel harmony), helps form parallel sentences. This means it connects at least two actions that happen in direct succession – in the same tense, however.
An example to make it clearer:
Eve gidiyorum, çay içiyorum. = I’m going home and drinking tea.
We take the first verb and give it the -(y)ip suffix, and we have:
Eve gidip çay içiyorum.
The sentence flows better now, and you even save yourself a comma. The -(y)ip suffix is the same for every person. Only the final verb in the appropriate tense defines which person we’re talking about and in which tense.
Usually, however, no more than three actions are connected in a row in this form.
Dükkana gidip ekmek alıp bana getirirsin. = You go to the shop, buy bread, and bring it to me.
When the verb stem ends in a vowel, a y is inserted:
Arabaya atlayıp çarşıya gidiyoruz. = We jump in the car and drive to the city.
Vocabulary for Lesson 17:
atlamak = to jump; dükkan = shop; ekmek = bread; kaçırmak = to miss, to lose out on; kalmak = to stay, to remain; meyva (also meyve) = fruit; meyva suyu = fruit juice; portakal = orange; portakal suyu = orange juice; tren = train