Persian relative clauses follow the noun they describe and normally begin with invariant که. What happens inside the relative clause depends on the head noun's grammatical role. A subject can usually be left as an empty position, but a possessor or the complement of a preposition must normally be represented by a pronoun or enclitic that points back to the head. That repeated element is a resumptive pronoun.
English distributes information differently: who, which, and whose can reveal the role of the head, and English can leave a preposition at the end. Persian که never changes form and carries none of those roles by itself. The learner must therefore build a complete Persian clause after که, leaving a gap only where Persian permits one.
One frame, several internal roles
The external noun is called the head. The clause after که describes it. Imagine replacing the entire head with an ordinary Persian pronoun inside that clause; the role of that imagined pronoun predicts the relative pattern.
| Head's role inside the relative | Usual Persian strategy | Model |
|---|---|---|
| subject | gap | همکاری که دیر رسید |
| restrictive direct object | gap or clitic | کتابی که خریدم / خریدمش |
| nonrestrictive direct object | normally resumed | این کتاب، که خریدمش، ... |
| object of a preposition | pronoun or clitic after the preposition | کسی که با او حرف زدم |
| possessor | possessive enclitic | کسی که برادرش را دیدم |
همکاری که دیر رسید مستقیم به اتاق جلسه رفت.
hamkâri ke dir resid mostaqim be otâq-e jalse raft.
The colleague who arrived late went straight to the meeting room. (neutral standard; subject gap)
پیامی که صبح فرستادی به دستم نرسید.
payâmi ke sobh ferestâdi be dast-am na-resid.
The message you sent this morning did not reach me. (neutral standard; direct-object gap)
In the first example, the colleague is the unspoken subject of رسید. Adding او would normally create an unnecessary second subject. In the second, the message is the understood object of فرستادی; که itself is not that object and takes no را.
Subject gaps are the simplest pattern
When the head is the subject of the relative clause, Persian normally leaves the subject position empty. The verb still carries ordinary person and number agreement. A singular human head takes a singular verb; a human plural head normally takes a plural verb.
پرستاری که دیشب اینجا بود امروز مرخصی است.
parastâri ke dishab injâ bud emruz morakhkhasi ast.
The nurse who was here last night is off today. (neutral standard)
دوستانی که کمکمان کردند فردا برمیگردند.
dustâni ke komak-emân kardand fardâ bar-mi-gardand.
The friends who helped us are returning tomorrow. (neutral standard; plural subject agreement)
An overt pronoun can occur if it has an independent contrastive purpose—roughly, “the colleague who he, unlike the others, objected”—but it is not the neutral way to translate English who. At this level, use a gap for a coreferential subject.
Direct objects allow two patterns
In an identifying, or restrictive, relative clause, a direct object may be a gap or may be resumed by an object enclitic. Both patterns occur in standard Persian, but their distribution is not mechanically interchangeable: a gap is the safest neutral choice in a short restrictive relative, while an enclitic can make an identified object's link especially explicit in a longer clause. Register and speaker judgments also affect the choice.
رستورانی که معرفی کردی جمعهها تعطیل است.
resturâni ke mo'arrefi kardi jom'e-hâ ta'til ast.
The restaurant you recommended is closed on Fridays. (neutral standard; object gap)
رستورانی که پارسال معرفیاش کردی هنوز شلوغ است.
resturâni ke pârsâl mo'arrefi-ash kardi hanuz sholugh ast.
The restaurant you recommended last year is still busy. (neutral standard; resumed direct object)
The clitic may attach to the verbal element or, in a compound verb, to a suitable nonverbal host. Its job is to recover the head's internal object role. Do not add a second را after it.
A nonrestrictive relative merely adds a comment about an already identified head. In this environment, an object head is normally resumed:
این گزارش، که دیشب خواندمش، چند اشتباه جدی دارد.
in gozâresh, ke dishab khândam-ash, chand eshtebâh-e jeddi dârad.
This report, which I read last night, has several serious mistakes. (neutral written style; nonrestrictive object resumption)
The commas matter because they signal that این گزارش is already identified. For fuller discussion of restrictive and nonrestrictive relatives, see Basic Relative Clauses with که.
Prepositional roles must be rebuilt
English freely says the person I spoke with, stranding with. Standard Persian does not normally leave با without a complement. It resumes the head with an independent pronoun such as او or with a clitic where that host is natural.
پزشکی که با او مشورت کردم این درمان را پیشنهاد داد.
pezeshki ke bâ u mashverat kardam in darmân râ pishnehâd dâd.
The doctor I consulted recommended this treatment. (neutral standard; full prepositional resumptive)
مسئلهای که دربارهاش حرف میزدیم بالاخره حل شد.
mas'ale-i ke darbâre-ash harf mi-zadim bâlâkhare hal shod.
The issue we were talking about was finally resolved. (neutral standard; clitic after درباره)
شهری که سالها در آن زندگی کرده بودند خیلی عوض شده بود.
shahri ke sâl-hâ dar ân zendegi karde budand kheyli avaz shode bud.
The city in which they had lived for years had changed greatly. (formal-neutral)
Independent او is particularly clear for people; آن can resume a place or thing in careful prose. Compact forms such as ازش are common (informal), while integrated forms such as دربارهاش are also normal in edited prose. The detailed host choices belong to Preposition Stranding and Resumption in Relatives.
دوستی که ازش ماشین گرفتم تا شب برمیگرده.
dusti ke az-ash mâshin gereftam tâ shab bar-mi-garde.
The friend I borrowed the car from will be back by tonight. (informal, regional: Tehran)
Possessive roles require a resumptive clitic
Persian has no special relative word equivalent to English whose. The possessed noun inside the relative clause takes a possessive enclitic referring back to the head.
همسایهای که پسرش در شیراز درس میخواند خانه را فروخت.
hamsâye-i ke pesar-ash dar Shirâz dars mi-khânad khâne râ forukht.
The neighbor whose son studies in Shiraz sold the house. (neutral standard)
شرکتی که محصولاتش را میخریم قیمتها را بالا برده است.
sherkati ke mahsulât-ash râ mi-kharim qeymat-hâ râ bâlâ borde ast.
The company whose products we buy has raised its prices. (neutral standard)
Without ـش, the clause would merely say “a son studies” or “we buy the products”; the possessive relation to the head would disappear. The clitic is therefore not decorative agreement.
The head's two roles are independent
The head noun has one role in the matrix clause and another inside the relative. In مدیری که با او صحبت کردم رفت, مدیر is the subject of رفت, but the complement of با inside the relative. The external and internal markers must not be mixed.
به مدیری که دیروز با او صحبت کردیم ایمیل زدم.
be modiri ke diruz bâ u sohbat kardim imeyl zadam.
I emailed the manager we spoke with yesterday. (neutral standard; matrix به, relative با او)
Here به marks the whole noun phrase's role with ایمیل زدن, while با او independently completes صحبت کردن. This two-clause analysis prevents many marker errors.
A short exchange
— آن آقایی که کنارش نشسته بودی کی بود؟ — استاد قدیمیام بود؛ همان کسی که پارسال ازش تعریف میکردم.
— ân âqâ-yi ke kenâr-ash neshaste budi ki bud? — ostâd-e qadimi-am bud; hamân kasi ke pârsâl az-ash ta'rif mi-kardam.
— Who was the man you were sitting next to? — He was my former professor, the same person I was praising last year. (neutral conversation; two prepositional resumptives)
Common Mistakes
1. Making the relative verb agree with the speaker instead of the head
❌ پزشکی که زود رسیدم به من زنگ زد.
Incorrect for ‘the doctor who arrived early’ — the singular head پزشک supplies the understood subject, so the relative verb must be رسید, not first-person رسیدم.
✅ پزشکی که زود رسید به من زنگ زد.
pezeshki ke zud resid be man zang zad.
The doctor who arrived early called me.
2. Stranding a preposition
❌ دوستی که با صحبت کردم آمد.
Incorrect — با needs a resumptive complement inside the relative clause.
✅ دوستی که با او صحبت کرده بودم آمد.
dusti ke bâ u sohbat karde budam âmad.
The friend I had spoken with arrived.
3. Omitting the possessive link
❌ زنی که کیف گم شد به پلیس خبر داد.
Incorrect for ‘the woman whose bag was lost’ — کیف needs a resumptive possessor.
✅ زنی که کیفش گم شده بود به پلیس خبر داد.
zani ke keyf-ash gom shode bud be polis khabar dâd.
The woman whose bag had gone missing informed the police.
4. Treating که like an object pronoun
❌ کتابی که را سفارش دادم رسید.
Incorrect — که is only the linker and cannot take را.
✅ کتابی که هفتهی پیش سفارش دادم رسید.
ketâbi ke hafte-ye pish sefâresh dâdam resid.
The book I ordered last week arrived.
5. Adding a second object marker after a clitic
❌ فیلمی که دیدمش را جالب بود.
Incorrect — the resumptive ـش already marks the internal object, while the external head is the subject of بود.
✅ فیلمی که دیشب دیدمش جالب بود.
filmi ke dishab didam-ash jâleb bud.
The film that I saw last night was interesting.
Key Takeaways
- Persian که is invariant: the clause itself must show how the head relates to its predicate.
- Subject relatives normally use a gap. Restrictive direct-object relatives allow a gap or a resumptive enclitic.
- Prepositional and possessive roles normally require resumption: با او، دربارهاش، پسرش.
- A nonrestrictive direct-object relative normally resumes its already identified head.
- Analyze the head's matrix role and relative-clause role separately; each clause supplies its own case marker or preposition.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Basic Relative Clauses with کهA2 — Build basic Persian subject and object relative clauses after a noun with که, antecedent ـی, gaps, and invariant linking.
- Clitic Doubling and Resumptive UseB1 — Distinguish colloquial object doubling from the resumptive clitics that identify a head noun's role inside Persian relative clauses.
- Preposition Stranding and Resumption in RelativesC1 — Form Persian prepositional relatives with full pronouns or resumptive clitics, distinguish colloquial afterthought placement, and avoid English-style bare stranding.
- Relative-Clause AttachmentB1 — Attach Persian که clauses to their antecedents and track gaps, resumptive forms, and را across simple and structurally heavy noun phrases.