The future participle -(y)AcAK is the time-shifted twin of -DIK. Wherever -DIK gives you a past or non-future relative clause or complement, -(y)AcAK gives you the future-oriented version, using exactly the same possessive-agreement machinery. Okuyacağım kitap is "the book I will read"; yapılacak işler is "the work to be done"; geleceğini biliyorum is "I know that he will come". If you have internalized -DIK, you already know ninety percent of this page — the rest is the shape of the suffix and the future meaning it carries.
The same engine, shifted to the future
The defining insight: -DIK and -(y)AcAK are a matched pair. Both relativize non-subjects, both demand a possessive suffix marking the embedded subject, both put a full noun-phrase subject in the genitive. The only difference is reference time — -DIK looks back or stays neutral, -(y)AcAK looks forward.
| Subject of the clause | -DIK (past/neutral) | -(y)AcAK (future) | Gloss (future) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | okuduğum | okuyacağım | that I will read |
| you (sg.) | okuduğun | okuyacağın | that you will read |
| he/she/it | okuduğu | okuyacağı | that he/she will read |
| we | okuduğumuz | okuyacağımız | that we will read |
| you (pl.) | okuduğunuz | okuyacağınız | that you will read |
| they | okudukları | okuyacakları | that they will read |
Yarın imzalanacak belge hâlâ avukatta.
The document that will be signed tomorrow is still with the lawyer.
Söyleyeceğin şeyi zaten biliyorum.
I already know the thing you're going to say.
Form: -(y)AcAK and the k → ğ softening
The suffix harmonizes two ways: -acak after back vowels, -ecek after front vowels. After a vowel-final stem, a buffer -y- appears, and notice that the suffix vowel then shows the characteristic -(y)A- spelling:
- oku- → okuyacak ("will read")
- bekle- → bekleyecek ("will wait")
- gel- → gelecek ("will come")
When a vowel-initial possessive ending follows, the final k softens to ğ, precisely as with -DIK:
- gel-ecek + im → geleceğim ("that I will come")
- git-ecek + in → gideceğin ("that you will go" — note git- → gid- before the vowel)
- gel-ecek + imiz → geleceğimiz ("that we will come")
As with -DIK, the k survives only before the 3rd-plural -leri/-ları ending: gelecekleri, yapacakları.
Bu yaz gideceğimiz şehri henüz seçemedik.
We still haven't been able to choose the city we'll go to this summer.
Toplantıda söyleyeceğim her şeyi not aldım.
I've written down everything I'm going to say in the meeting.
"Work to be done": the passive future participle
A very common idiom is the passive stem + -(y)AcAK, giving "to be V-ed" — things that are due or destined to happen. Yapılacak is "to be done", ödenecek is "to be paid", atılacak is "to be thrown out".
Bu hafta yapılacak işleri bir listeye yazdım.
I've written the work to be done this week into a list.
Çöpe atılacak eşyaları kapının önüne koy.
Put the things to be thrown out in front of the door.
These often have no overt subject at all — the focus is the action's destiny, not who performs it — which is why the passive form is so natural here. In the relative use, yapılacak işler needs no possessive ending because the head noun işler is the (passive) subject; this is the one place -(y)AcAK behaves like -An rather than -DIK.
-(y)AcAK as a future complement nominalizer
Just as -DIK nominalizes past/non-future facts, -(y)AcAK nominalizes future facts in complement clauses: "(the fact) that someone will do X". It takes the possessive agreement and then whatever case the main verb requires.
Onun yarın geleceğini biliyorum.
I know that he will come tomorrow.
Sınavı geçeceğinden hiç şüphem yok.
I have no doubt that you'll pass the exam.
In geleceğini, geleceği is "(the fact) that he will come", -ni is the accusative demanded by bilmek, and onun is the genitive subject. Compare directly with the -DIK complement geldiğini biliyorum ("I know that he came") — identical structure, only the time changes.
Common mistakes
1. Using a finite future clause where a participle is needed. You cannot weld a finite sentence in front of the noun; the verb must be the participle, and the subject pronoun is dropped or made genitive.
❌ ben okuyacağım bu kitap çok kalın
Wrong — 'ben okuyacağım' is a finite sentence ('I will read'); to modify the noun it must become the participle 'okuyacağım kitap' with no separate subject pronoun.
✅ okuyacağım kitap çok kalın
The book I'm going to read is very thick.
2. Omitting the possessive agreement on a non-subject relative. Like -DIK, the relative -(y)AcAK needs a possessor.
❌ söyleyecek şey
Wrong if you mean 'the thing YOU will say' — without the possessive it only means 'a thing to say'; you need the agreement: söyleyeceğin.
✅ söyleyeceğin şey
The thing you'll say.
3. Leaving k unchanged before the possessive vowel. The k must soften to ğ.
❌ gelecekim gün
Wrong — k softens to ğ before the possessive vowel: geleceğim.
✅ geleceğim gün
The day I'll come.
4. Forgetting the buffer -y- on vowel stems. Two vowels cannot collide.
❌ okuacağım kitap
Wrong — oku- ends in a vowel, so a buffer -y- is needed: okuyacağım.
✅ okuyacağım kitap
The book I'll read.
5. Using -DIK where the meaning is clearly future. Time reference is not optional.
❌ yarın gittiğimiz şehir
Wrong — 'yarın' (tomorrow) demands the future participle.
✅ yarın gideceğimiz şehir
The city we'll go to tomorrow.
Key takeaways
- -(y)AcAK is the future partner of -DIK — same possessive agreement, same genitive subject, only future time.
- It harmonizes two ways (-acak / -ecek), inserts a buffer -y- after vowels (okuyacak), and its k softens to ğ before a possessive vowel (geleceğim) but stays k before -leri (gelecekleri).
- The passive + -(y)AcAK idiom means "to be done / to be V-ed" (yapılacak işler) and usually has no overt subject.
- As a complement nominalizer, it expresses future facts (geleceğini biliyorum), mirroring the past-fact -DIK complement.
- The choice among the participles is governed by the same subject-versus-non-subject test described in the relative-clause overview; -(y)AcAK adds the future dimension. For the plain finite future tense, see the future -(y)AcAK tense.
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Object/Factive Participle -DIKB1 — How -DIK plus a possessive suffix relativizes objects and obliques (gördüğüm adam) and nominalizes past/non-future facts in complement clauses.
- The Future -(y)AcAKA2 — How to form the Turkish future tense, including the k→ğ softening and the buffer -y- after vowel stems.
- Relative Clauses Without Relative PronounsB1 — How Turkish builds 'the film I saw' and 'the man who called me' with pre-nominal participles instead of who, which, or that.
- Nominalized 'That'-ClausesB1 — How Turkish renders English 'that'-complements with -DIK (factual) or -(y)AcAK (future) plus a possessive and case, with the embedded subject in the genitive.