Handling Complaints
When navigating customer service scenarios, you need to identify exactly who is experiencing an issue. To do this, you need a way to describe a client whose order is late, or a guest whose room was not cleaned.
The "Whose" Relative Clause (-(y)An)
In English, we use the word "whose" to link a person to their problem. Turkish handles this by combining a possessed noun with the subject relative clause suffix -(y)An.
The structure works like this:
| Possessed Item | Action (Verb + -(y)An) | Target Noun | English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| valizi (his/her suitcase) | kaybolan (that got lost) | yolcu (passenger) | the passenger whose suitcase got lost |
| siparişi (his/her order) | bekletilen (that is kept waiting) | müşteri (customer) | the customer whose order is kept waiting |
Notice that the item owned by the customer must take the 3rd person possessive suffix (e.g., valiz-i, sipariş-i). Then, the verb describing what happened to that item takes the -(y)An suffix, acting as an adjective for the target noun.
| The passenger whose suitcase got lost is very aggrieved. | Valizi kaybolan yolcu çok mağdur. |
| We give priority to the customers whose orders are kept waiting. | Siparişi bekletilen müşterilere öncelik veriyoruz. |
Negative "Whose" Clauses
To describe someone whose item did not receive a certain action, simply add the negative suffix -mA to the verb stem before adding the relative suffix.
Since the negative suffix ends in a vowel, you will always use the buffer letter y, resulting in -mayan or -meyen.
| The guests whose room was not cleaned are waiting at the reception. | Odası temizlenmeyen misafirler resepsiyonda bekliyor. |
| The guests whose receipts were not approved look angry. | Makbuzu onaylanmayan misafirler kızgın görünüyor. |
Dropping the Noun
Just like regular adjectives in Turkish, you can drop the target noun entirely if the context is clear. When you do this, any plural or case suffixes that belonged to the noun attach directly to the -(y)An suffix.
For example, instead of saying "the people whose problem is not solved" (sorunu çözülmeyen insanlar), you can simply say "those whose problem is not solved" (sorunu çözülmeyenler).
| Those whose problems were not resolved are still waiting. | Sorunu çözülmeyenler hâlâ bekliyor. |