Relative آنکه and آنچه | Farsi Grammar

Formal Persian uses آنکه “the one who/he who” and آنچه “that which/what” to introduce relative clauses without a separate antecedent noun. آنکه حقیقت را می‌گوید identifies a person through the clause “who tells the truth”; آنچه رخ داد packages a situation as “what happened.” The entire expression then fills a noun-phrase role in a larger sentence.

Both forms are current, but their distribution differs. آنچه is common in formal journalism, essays, lectures, and careful speech. آنکه is markedly elevated or literary; ordinary conversation usually chooses کسی که “the person/someone who.” Presenting آنکه as an everyday equivalent of English the one who would therefore mislead learners.

Forms, reference, and register

Form	Reference	Typical English	Usual modern register
آنکه + clause	person characterized by the clause	the one who; he/she who	formal, literary
آنچه + clause	thing, content, event, or situation	what; that which	formal/academic; also careful speech
کسی که + clause	person, often existential or identifiable	someone/the person who	neutral/current
چیزی که + clause	thing with an overt nominal head	something/the thing that	neutral/current
هر کس / هرچه + clause	open or exhaustive range	whoever/everyone who; whatever	neutral/current

آنکه حقیقت را پنهان می‌کند باید پاسخ‌گو باشد.

ânke haqiqat râ penhân mi-konad bâyad pâsokh-gu bâshad.

The one who conceals the truth must be held accountable. (formal/literary)

آنچه در جلسه تصویب شد از ماه آینده اجرا می‌شود.

ânche dar jalase tasvib shod az mâh-e âyande ejrâ mi-shavad.

What was approved at the meeting will be implemented next month. (formal/administrative)

The first expression denotes a person but leaves gender unspecified. The second denotes approved content or a decision, not a person. Persian آنکه does not force English he; use an inclusive translation when the context gives no gender.

Why these are antecedentless relatives

In an ordinary relative phrase such as گزارشی که خواندم “the report that I read,” گزارش is the overt antecedent and که خواندم modifies it. In آنچه خواندم “what I read,” no lexical noun such as گزارش or مطلب appears. آنچه and its clause jointly provide the referent.

گزارشی که خواندم کامل نبود.

gozâreshi ke khândam kâmel nabud.

The report that I read was not complete. (ordinary headed relative)

آنچه خواندم با توضیح شما فرق داشت.

ânche khândam bâ towzih-e shomâ farq dâsht.

What I read differed from your explanation. (antecedentless relative)

English what looks interrogative, but آنچه here does not ask a question. It creates a nominal constituent whose content is supplied by the following clause.

💡

Test the whole string in the larger sentence. If آنچه + clause occupies the place where a noun phrase could stand, it means “what/that which”; it is not an embedded question merely because English uses what.

آنکه: a formal or literary human relative

آنکه presents a person through a defining property. The verb inside its relative clause is normally third singular because the expression distributes over “the one who,” even when a maxim could apply to many people.

آنکه از نقد می‌ترسد فرصت یادگیری را از دست می‌دهد.

ânke az naqd mi-tarsad forsat-e yâdgiri râ az dast mi-dahad.

One who fears criticism loses the opportunity to learn. (formal/literary maxim)

آنکه مسئول این تصمیم است باید دلایلش را توضیح دهد.

ânke mas'ul-e in tasmim ast bâyad dalâyel-ash râ towzih dahad.

The person responsible for this decision must explain their reasons. (formal)

In everyday speech, کسی که مسئول این تصمیمه... would be much more natural (informal, regional: Tehran). In neutral standard prose, کسی که مسئول این تصمیم است... avoids the elevated tone while preserving the meaning.

کسی که این بسته را آورده هنوز بیرون منتظر است.

kasi ke in baste râ âvarde hanuz birun montazer ast.

The person who brought this package is still waiting outside. (neutral standard)

💡

Reserve آنکه for deliberate formal or literary style. Use کسی که for an unmarked contemporary reference to “the person/someone who.”

آنچه for content, facts, and situations

آنچه is productive in formal expository prose because it can package an entire body of content without repeating a noun. It commonly introduces the topic of a conclusion, contrast, or evaluation.

آنچه اهمیت دارد زمان اجرای طرح است، نه نام پیمانکار.

ânche ahammiyyat dârad zamân-e ejrâ-ye tarh ast, na nâm-e peymânkâr.

What matters is the project's implementation schedule, not the contractor's name. (formal/academic)

آنچه تا امروز می‌دانیم برای نتیجه‌گیری قطعی کافی نیست.

ânche tâ emruz mi-dânim barâ-ye natije-giri-ye qat'i kâfi nist.

What we know so far is not sufficient for a definitive conclusion. (academic)

آنچه رخ داد نتیجه‌ی یک سوءتفاهم ساده بود.

ânche rokh dâd natije-ye yek su'-tafâhom-e sâde bud.

What happened was the result of a simple misunderstanding. (formal-neutral)

In conversation, speakers often replace these with چیزی که..., اتفاقی که..., or an ordinary clause. آنچه is nevertheless less exclusively literary than آنکه and appears naturally in careful public speech.

آنچه versus هرچه

Both can translate as what or whatever, but their quantificational profiles differ. آنچه points to the delimited content characterized by its clause; هرچه ranges freely or exhaustively over everything satisfying the description.

آنچه در جلسه شنیدم نگران‌کننده بود.

ânche dar jalase shenidam negarân-konande bud.

What I heard at the meeting was worrying. (delimited content; formal-neutral)

هرچه در جلسه شنیدی برای من تعریف کن.

harche dar jalase shenidi barâ-ye man ta'rif kon.

Tell me everything you heard at the meeting. (exhaustive instruction)

The first evaluates a body of information as a topic. The second instructs the listener not to leave anything out. The broader free-choice system is explained on Free Relatives هر کس که and هرچه.

Object marking

When an آنچه expression is treated as a delimited direct object in formal prose, را commonly follows آنچه, with or without an additional که in actual usage. The clause that licenses object marking still matters: را may reflect the role of آنچه inside the following relative clause, the role of the whole expression in the larger clause, or both at once.

آنچه را مشاهده کردید در این فرم ثبت کنید.

ânche râ moshâhede kardid dar in form sabt konid.

Record what you observed on this form. (formal instruction)

آنچه را که قول داده بودیم به‌موقع تحویل دادیم.

ânche râ ke qowl dâde budim be-mowqe' tahvil dâdim.

We delivered what we had promised on time. (formal-neutral; additional که is common)

آنچه را که در جلسه اتفاق افتاد با جزئیات بنویسید.

ânche râ ke dar jalase ettefâq oftâd bâ joz'iyyât benevisid.

Write down what happened in the meeting in detail. (را marks the whole expression as the object of بنویسید; آنچه is the subject of اتفاق افتاد inside the relative)

The last example isolates the larger-clause role: آنچه is not the object of اتفاق افتاد, yet را appears because the completed expression is the object of بنویسید. The sequence آنچه که is widespread, especially in speech, and should not be labeled ungrammatical. Concise edited prose often omits the extra که when the structure remains clear. By contrast, آنکه already contains the human relative linker in a fused form; آنکه که is not the standard construction.

Punctuation and information packaging

Do not place a comma between آنکه/آنچه and the clause that identifies its referent. That clause is essential: splitting آنچه، در گزارش آمده would falsely detach the very material that supplies “what.” A Persian comma can follow the completed relative constituent when it is long or fronted as a topic.

آنچه در گزارش نهایی درباره‌ی هزینه‌ها آمده، با برآورد اولیه تفاوت دارد.

ânche dar gozâresh-e nahâyi darbâre-ye hazine-hâ âmade, bâ barâvord-e avvaliyye tafâvot dârad.

What appears in the final report about the costs differs from the initial estimate. (formal; comma follows the complete long subject)

Short subjects need no comma: آنچه رخ داد عجیب بود. Punctuation marks a processing boundary; it does not create the relative relation.

Common Mistakes

1. Using آنکه as a demonstrative before an overt noun

❌ آنکه مرد منتظر بود وارد شد.

Incorrect — آنکه itself means ‘the one who’; it does not directly modify مرد.

✅ آن مردی که منتظر بود وارد شد.

ân mardi ke montazer bud vâred shod.

That man who was waiting came in.

2. Adding a second که after آنکه

❌ آنکه که مسئول است توضیح دهد.

Incorrect — fused آنکه does not take a second که.

✅ آنکه مسئول این بخش است توضیح دهد.

ânke mas'ul-e in bakhsh ast towzih dahad.

Let the person responsible for this section explain. (formal/literary)

3. Using آنچه for a human referent

❌ آنچه پشت در منتظر است همکار من است.

Incorrect for a person — آنچه has nonhuman, content, or situational reference.

✅ کسی که پشت در منتظر است همکار من است.

kasi ke posht-e dar montazer ast hamkâr-e man ast.

The person waiting behind the door is my colleague. (neutral standard)

4. Giving generic singular آنکه plural agreement

❌ آنکه قانون را می‌دانند چنین اشتباهی نمی‌کنند.

Incorrect — آنکه is grammatically singular in this construction.

✅ آنکه قانون را می‌داند چنین اشتباهی نمی‌کند.

ânke qânun râ mi-dânad chonin eshtebâhi nemi-konad.

One who knows the law does not make such a mistake. (formal/literary)

5. Confusing compact and topic–comment packaging

✅ آنچه را که دیدید، آن را با جزئیات بنویسید.

ânche râ ke didid, ân râ bâ joz'iyyât benevisid.

As for what you saw, write it down in detail. (marked topic–comment packaging with resumptive آن را)

✅ آنچه را دیدید با جزئیات بنویسید.

ânche râ didid bâ joz'iyyât benevisid.

Write down what you saw in detail. (formal/polite)

Both are grammatical. Concise edited prose normally favors the second. The first deliberately establishes a topic boundary and resumes it with آن را; without that discourse packaging, the repetition is needlessly heavy rather than syntactically impossible.

Key Takeaways

آنکه means “the one who” for a human referent and is formal or literary in modern Persian.
آنچه means “what/that which” for things, content, events, and situations; it is productive in formal expository prose.
Both expressions are antecedentless: the following clause supplies the characterization without an overt head noun.
آنچه differs from universal هرچه in tending to package delimited content rather than an unrestricted range.
Keep the defining clause adjacent; use a comma only after a completed long constituent, and place را according to object function.

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