The -dık participle (object/non-subject relative)
Last lesson we used -en/-an for relative clauses where the missing element is the subject of the inner verb (gelen adam = the man who is coming). When the missing element is the object — or anything else that isn't the subject — Turkish uses a different participle: -dık with a possessive ending that marks the inner subject. Yazdığım kitap = the book that I wrote (literally 'my-written book'). Sevdiğin film = the movie that you love. Annemin pişirdiği yemek = the food my mom cooked. The possessive on -dığ- does the job English does with 'that I/you/he/etc.'.
How to form it
Drop -mek/-mak from the infinitive, add -dik / -dık / -duk / -dük with vowel harmony — but the final -k softens to -ğ- before any vowel suffix, so in practice you'll see -dığ- / -diğ- / -duğ- / -düğ-. Then attach the possessive ending matching the subject of the inner clause. yazmak → yaz- + -dığ- + -ım (my) → yazdığım = the (one) I wrote. görmek → gördüğüm = the (one) I saw. sevmek → sevdiğin = the (one) you love. After consonant-final -t, the d turns to t: gitmek → gittiğim = the (one) I went (to).
The possessive endings on -dık
Same possessive endings you already know on nouns: -ım (my), -ın (your), -i (his/her), -imiz (our), -iniz (your pl.), -leri (their). Tracking the inner subject: yazdığım kitap = the book I wrote. yazdığın kitap = the book you wrote. yazdığı kitap = the book he/she wrote. yazdığımız kitap = the book we wrote. yazdığınız kitap = the book you (pl.) wrote. yazdıkları kitap = the book they wrote. The possessive shows you who did the verb.
Marking the subject explicitly
When the inner subject is a noun (not just a pronoun), you mark it with the genitive: annemin pişirdiği yemek = the food my mom cooked. çocuğun yazdığı mektup = the letter the child wrote. The pattern is [genitive subject] + -dığ + possessive matching that subject + head noun. The possessive on the participle is third-person -ı/-i when the subject is third-person, agreeing with annemin, çocuğun, etc.
Tense — past or present, context-dependent
-dık itself doesn't strictly mark past — it covers past and present meanings, much like -en/-an. Sevdiğim kitap = the book I love OR the book I loved. Context decides. For a future meaning, you use -ecek (lesson 32). For an explicitly habitual or stative present, -dık is fine. If you want to nail down the tense unambiguously, you can use periphrastic forms like sevmiş olduğum, but in practice -dık alone is what natives use.
When to use -dık vs -en
Quick test: ask 'what's missing in the relative clause — the subject or something else?'. 'The man who came' — missing 'who' is the subject of 'came' → -en: gelen adam. 'The book I read' — missing 'that' is the object of 'read' → -dık: okuduğum kitap. 'The house I live in' — missing 'that' is a location, not the subject → -dık: yaşadığım ev. Anything that isn't the inner subject takes -dık + possessive.
Negative: -medik / -madık
Insert -me/-ma before the participle: -medik / -madık → -mediğ- / -madığ- before vowels. Anlamadığım soru = the question I didn't understand. Görmediğim film = the movie I haven't seen. Sevmediğin yemek = the food you don't like. The possessive still marks the inner subject; the negative just says that subject didn't do the verb.
Other roles: time, place, oblique
Beyond direct objects, -dık handles every non-subject relation: gittiğim okul = the school I went to (location/dative); konuştuğum kişi = the person I talked with (oblique); doğduğum yıl = the year I was born (time); çıktığım kapı = the door I came out of (ablative). Same pattern: [verb stem]-dığ- + possessive + head noun, regardless of what role the head noun plays inside the relative clause.
