-ecek olan

The One Who Will

Level 4

The -ecek olan pattern creates a relative clause meaning 'the one who will [verb]'. It identifies the person or thing that is the subject of a future action.

How It Works

In Turkish, relative clauses are formed by turning a verb into a participle that acts like an adjective. When you want to describe a subject that will perform an action in the future, you use -ecek olan.

1. Formation:

2. Usage and Word Order:
While the simple future participle -ecek can sometimes stand alone in short phrases (e.g., gelecek hafta - next week), adding olan is common in more complex clauses to avoid ambiguity. Within the relative clause, the word order follows standard Turkish logic: time and place modifiers come before the -ecek olan block (e.g., 'yarın gelecek olan adam' - the man who will come tomorrow).

3. Subject vs. Object:
It is crucial to remember that -ecek olan is for the subject (the doer). If you want to describe the object (the thing being acted upon), you must use the future participle combined with a possessive suffix. Note that when adding these vowel-starting suffixes, the 'k' in the future ending undergoes consonant softening and changes to 'ğ' (e.g., yapacak becomes yapacağı) to indicate who is performing the action.

Examples (4)

  1. Toplantıya katılacak olan üyeler listelendi.

    The members who will attend the meeting have been listed.

    Word by Word: Meeting-to will-attend being members were-listed.

    Here, 'katılacak olan' describes the 'üyeler' (members) who are the ones performing the action of attending.

  2. Birazdan başlayacak olan film çok ödül aldı.

    The movie that is about to start has won many awards.

    Word by Word: In-a-moment will-start being movie many award took.

    The pattern describes the 'film' as the subject that will start shortly.

  3. Yarın sınavı geçecek olan öğrenciler tatile gidebilir.

    The students who will pass the exam tomorrow can go on vacation.

    Word by Word: Tomorrow exam-acc will-pass being students vacation-to can-go.

    This identifies a specific group of students based on a future action (passing the exam).

  4. Bize yardım edecek olan çocuk bu mu?

    Is this the boy who will help us?

    Word by Word: Us-to help will-do being child this [question]?

    The relative clause 'yardım edecek olan' modifies 'çocuk' (child).

Common Mistakes

  • Using -ecek olan for the object of the sentence.

    Okuyacak olan kitap masada.
    Okuyacağım kitap masada.

    A book cannot 'read' itself. 'Okuyacak olan' implies the book is the subject doing the reading. For objects, use the possessive future participle '-eceği'.

  • Trying to conjugate the word 'olan'.

    Gelecek olacak adam...
    Gelecek olan adam...

    'Olan' is a fixed participle form in this construction and does not take further tense or person endings.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-ecek olanLevel 4The One Who Will

Learn This First

The '-ecek olan' pattern is a complex relative clause structure. It combines the future tense marker with the present participle of the verb 'olmak' (to be) to create an adjectival phrase meaning 'the one who will [verb]'. To understand this, you must first be familiar with how the future tense is formed and how the -(y)en participle turns verbs into adjectives.

Words in This Pattern

-ecekolmak