Participles (Sıfat-Fiiller)

Participles (sıfat-fiiller / ortaçlar) turn a verb into an adjective, so they translate English relative clauses ("the man who came", "the book that I read"). The participle always comes before the noun.

The Key Choice: Subject or Not?

Ask whether the described noun is the subject of the participle's verb:

• Yes → -(y)en / -(y)an: kitabı okuyan öğrenci (the student who reads / read the book) (the student does the reading)
• No → -dik or -(y)ecek + possessive ending showing who does it: öğrencinin okuduğu kitap (the book the student read) (the book is the object)

1. Subject Participle: -(y)en / -(y)an

Two-way harmony, buffer y after vowels. It has no fixed tense: the time comes from context.

• gelen adam (the man who is coming / who came)
• Dün gelen misafirler (the guests who came yesterday)
• Türkçe bilen biri (someone who knows Turkish)
• okuyan öğrenci (the student who reads)
• gelmeyen öğrenciler (the students who didn't come) (negative: -me/-ma + -yen/-yan)

2. Object Participle: -dik / -dık / -duk / -dük (+ possessive)

Used when the noun is not the subject (an object, a place, a time…), for present and past actions. After voiceless consonants it becomes -tik/-tık/-tuk/-tük, and the k softens to ğ before the possessive vowel.

• (Benim) gördüğüm film (the film I saw) (gör + dük + üm)
• (Senin) yazdığın mektup (the letter you wrote)
• Onun yaptığı yemek (the food he/she made) (yap + tık + ı)
• oturduğumuz ev (the house we live in)
• Sevdiğim kıza çiçek aldım. (I bought flowers for the girl I love.) (the noun takes case endings as usual)

3. Future Participle: -(y)ecek / -(y)acak

For the subject it needs no possessive: gelecek misafirler (the guests who will come), gelecek yıl (next year). For a non-subject it takes possessive endings like -dik, with k → ğ: okuyacağım kitap (the book I will read). With the passive: yapılacak işler (things to be done).

4. Completed State: -miş / -mış / -muş / -müş

Describes a result, like an English "-ed" adjective. (The "apparently" meaning of the -miş tense does not apply here.)

• kırılmış bardak (the broken glass)
• pişmiş yemek (cooked food)
• kurumuş yapraklar (dried leaves)

Aorist participles also appear in set phrases: akar su (running water), çalışmaz saat (a clock that doesn't work).

Common Mistakes

• Wrong participle for a subject: okuduğum öğrenci ✗ for "the student who read" → okuyan öğrenci ✓
• -(y)an with a different doer: benim okuyan kitap ✗ → (benim) okuduğum kitap ✓
• Missing softening: okudukum ✗ → okuduğum ✓
• Possessive mismatch: senin okuduğum kitap ✗ → senin okuduğun kitap ✓