Relative clauses inside relative clauses

The idea

In ablamın önerdiği kitabı okuyan kadın, the woman reads and my older sister recommends. First build ablamın önerdiği kitap; then put that whole group inside the clause describing the woman. The book becomes kitabı because it is the definite object of okuyan. In these patterns, -dik with a possessive ending agrees with the subject of its own clause; okuyan describes the person doing the reading. The outer noun takes the ending needed by the main verb: kadınla konuştu. An inner noun can also be the subject of an outer relative clause: senin tanıdığın yazarın önerdiği roman. Here tanıdığın goes with senin, while önerdiği goes with yazarın. For a future event, use a future relative form: katılacağımız toplantı means the meeting we will attend; the ending identifies the unspoken biz.

Examples

• Babam bugün ablamın önerdiği kitabı okuyan kadınla konuştu.My father spoke today with the woman reading the book my older sister recommended.
• Annem dün bizim hazırladığımız raporu inceleyen adamı aradı.Yesterday my mother called the man examining the report we prepared.
• Ablam bugün senin çektiğin fotoğrafları sergileyen müzeyi gezdi.Today my older sister visited the museum displaying the photographs you took.
• Senin tanıdığın yazarın önerdiği romanı arıyorum.I am looking for the novel recommended by the writer you know.
• Öğrencilerin beğendiği kitabı yazan öğretmen yarın gelecek.The teacher who wrote the book the students liked will come tomorrow.
• Yarın katılacağımız toplantıyı düzenleyen ekip burada çalışıyor.The team organizing the meeting we will attend tomorrow works here.

Watch out

Do not lose the genitive just because a noun already has a relative clause before it. In senin tanıdığın yazarın önerdiği roman, yazarın is necessary for this intended structure: the writer recommends the novel. The person addressed knows the writer, but does not do the recommending.

Try it yourself

1. Complete with önermek: the woman reading the book my older sister recommended.

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   önerdiği

   önerdiği: the recommending subject is ablamın, third person singular. The possessive -m in ablamın refers to my family relationship, not to me as the recommender; önerdiğim would change who recommends the book.

2. Complete with hazırlamak: the manager who examined the report we prepared.

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   hazırladığımız

   hazırladığımız: bizim names the people who prepared the report, so the participle needs first person plural agreement. The manager is the person who examines it, expressed separately by inceleyen müdür.

3. Give yazar the needed ending: the novel recommended by the writer you know.

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   yazarın

   yazarın: the writer is the subject of the recommending clause, so this noun needs the genitive. Its role as the person you know is already expressed by senin tanıdığın; that inner relationship does not remove the outer ending.

4. Complete with katılmak: the team organizing the meeting we will attend tomorrow.

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   katılacağımız

   katılacağımız: yarın and the original sentence place attendance in the future, and the people attending are us. The team organizes the meeting; it is not the subject whose person is marked on this participle.

Use it today

Combine these three sentences into one, keeping who does what clear: Ablam bir kitap önerdi. Bir kadın bu kitabı okuyor. Babam bu kadınla konuştu. Bracket the inner relative clause and circle the ending on each head noun.