Object Participle: -dik + Possessive ("that [subject] verbed")
The subject participle -en/-an only works when the noun you’re describing is the one doing the action. The moment it’s the object instead - “the book I read,” not “the book that reads” - Turkish reaches for an entirely different suffix, one that also has to name who the real subject is.
What this ending does
The object participle -dik marks a clause where the noun being described is not the subject - usually it’s the direct object, though it covers other non-subject roles too. Because the real subject no longer shows up as the noun right in front of the participle, a possessive ending attaches to -dik itself to say who performed the action:
- (Benim) aradığım kişi sonunda geldi. — The person (that) I called finally came. (kişi, “person,” is who got called - the object - and -ığım says “I” did the calling)
- Senin yazdığın mektubu okudum. — I read the letter (that) you wrote. (mektup, “letter,” is what got written; -dığın says “you” wrote it)
- Çocukların sevdiği oyuncak kırılmış. — The toy (that) the children like has apparently broken. (oyuncak, “toy,” is what gets liked; -diği says “the children” are the ones who like it)
The genitive subject in parentheses - benim, senin - is optional emphasis, exactly like the determiner words in ordinary possession. The possessive ending on the participle is the part that actually carries the information, and it’s never optional.
Forming it
Two layers stack on top of each other. First, the bare suffix -dik harmonizes four ways by the stem’s last vowel, and devoices to -tik after a voiceless-final stem - the same two rules that shape the -di simple past:
| Last vowel of the stem | Suffix (after voiced sound) | Suffix (after voiceless sound) |
|---|---|---|
| a, ı | -dık | -tık |
| e, i | -dik | -tik |
| o, u | -duk | -tuk |
| ö, ü | -dük | -tük |
Second, a possessive ending attaches after that, agreeing with whoever performed the action - and because every one of those endings except the third-person plural starts with a vowel, the suffix’s final -k almost always softens to -ğ- first:
| Person (who did the action) | Front-vowel example (gel-, to come) | Back-vowel example (bak-, to look) |
|---|---|---|
| ben (I) | geldiğim | baktığım |
| sen (you) | geldiğin | baktığın |
| o (he/she/it) | geldiği | baktığı |
| biz (we) | geldiğimiz | baktığımız |
| siz (you, pl./formal) | geldiğiniz | baktığınız |
| onlar (they) | geldikleri | baktıkları |
Gel- (front vowel, already voiced) gives geldiğim, geldiğin, and so on. Bak- (back vowel, voiceless k) first takes the devoiced -tık, then softens its own k to ğ the same way: baktığım. Only the onlar row keeps the k unsoftened - -ları/-leri starts with the consonant l, so there’s no vowel there to trigger softening.
Exceptions worth knowing
The third-person-plural ending is the one case where the k never softens. Baktıkları, not baktığları — because -ları begins with a consonant, the softening rule (which only fires before a vowel) simply doesn’t apply.
Negation inserts -ma/-me before -dik, exactly like it does before the simple past. Git- (to go) negates to git-me-, and because -me ends in a vowel, the suffix that follows softens normally: gitmediğim yer — “the place I haven’t been / didn’t go.” The personal possessive endings attach after the negative exactly the same way they would without it.
Beyond relative clauses, the very same suffix nominalizes a whole clause into something like English “that.” Turkish has no word for “that” in a sentence like “I know that he came” - it uses this same -dik plus possessive, with a case ending added on top as needed: Onun geldiğini biliyorum. — I know that he/she came. (geldiği, “his/her having-come,” takes the accusative -ni to mark it as the object of biliyorum, “I know.”) This use shares the exact same mechanics as the relative-clause one above, just without a noun like kişi or kitap sitting next to it.
Examples
- (Benim) aradığım kişi sonunda geldi. — The person (that) I called finally came.
- Dün izlediğimiz film çok korkutucuydu. — The movie (that) we watched yesterday was very scary.
- Senin yazdığın mektubu okudum. — I read the letter (that) you wrote.
- Çocukların sevdiği oyuncak kırılmış. — The toy (that) the children like has apparently broken.
- Bana söylediğin şeyi unutmadım. — I haven’t forgotten the thing (that) you told me.
- Onların buldukları ev çok ucuzdu. — The house (that) they found was very cheap.
Try it yourself
Babi, Speafy’s AI tutor, will have you build the same kind of phrase around different objects and different subjects until picking the right possessive ending for “who did it” becomes automatic, and Speafy’s FSRS-based flashcards keep the -dik-plus-possessive pattern distinct in memory from the subject-only -en/-an participle, instead of the two collapsing into one vague “relative clause thing.”
Frequently asked questions
How do I say "the book I read" in Turkish?
Okuduğum kitap. Oku- ("to read") takes the object-participle suffix -duk (softened to -duğ before a vowel) plus the first-person possessive -um, literally "my having-read," placed directly before kitap ("book"). The subject ben ("I") doesn't need to be stated separately - the possessive ending -um already tells you who read it.
What's the difference between the -dik participle and the -en/-an participle in Turkish?
Use -dik plus a possessive ending when the noun you're describing is the object (or any other non-subject role) of the clause - aradığım kişi, "the person I called," where -ığım marks "I" as the caller. Use -en/-an instead, with no possessive at all, when that noun is the subject doing the action - that's a separate grammar point.
Do I always have to state the subject explicitly in a -dik clause, like senin for "you"?
No - the possessive ending on -dik already carries that information by itself, so (senin) okuduğun kitap ("the book you read/are reading") is complete and natural even with senin left out. Turkish speakers usually only add the genitive subject word for extra emphasis or when the context alone wouldn't make the subject clear.
