-ğan and -atyn: the participle instead of "who / which"
English builds "the man who called yesterday" with a relative clause: who plus a verb, after the noun. Kazakh builds it inside out: first the modifier, then the defined word, and the verb inside turns into a participle. Keshe qoñirau shağan adam — word for word "the yesterday-called man". This is the main syntactic break between the two languages, and until it is crossed, speech stays a string of chopped sentences.…
How it works
English builds "the man who called yesterday" with a relative clause: who plus a verb, after the noun. Kazakh builds it inside out: first the modifier, then the defined word, and the verb inside turns into a participle. Keshe qoñirau shağan adam — word for word "the yesterday-called man". This is the main syntactic break between the two languages, and until it is crossed, speech stays a string of chopped sentences.
There are two participles, and choosing between them is choosing the tense. -ğan/-gen, -qan/-ken — past: the action has already happened. Shartqa qol qoğan qyzmetker — the employee who signed the contract. -atyn/-etin, -ytyn/-itin — present and future, and also habit and property. Astanauda jumys istetin ağam — my brother, who works in Astana. The difference shows on a pair: oqığan kitap — the book that was read; oqytyn kitap — the book that is being read or will be read.
Second, the thing people stumble over: who acts inside the phrase. If it is the same person the noun defines, nothing extra is needed: kelgen qonaq — the guest who came. But if there is a doer of its own inside, he takes the genitive, and the defined word receives a possessive tail: meniñ oqığan kitabym — the book I read. Skipping the tail is the most frequent mistake: meniñ oqığan kitap sounds half-assembled.
And third. The participle itself declines like an ordinary noun, and half of the language's complex sentences rest on that: kelgendi kördim — I saw the one who came, aıtqanyñdy tüsindim — I understood what you said, bolğany turaly — about what happened. Notice: English wires in "the one who" or "what", while Kazakh manages with a case on the participle. The negation is inserted before the participle: -mağan/-megen — kelmegen adam, the man who did not come.
Table
| The form | The tense | Example | In English |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ğan / -gen | past | jaldağan päter | the flat that was rented |
| -qan / -ken | after a voiceless consonant | qol qoğan shart | the signed contract |
| -atyn / -etin | present, habit | istetin adam | the person who works |
| -ytyn / -itin | after a vowel | oqytyn bala | the child who studies |
| -mağan / -megen | negation | kelmegen qonaq | the guest who did not come |
| the genitive + possessive | its own doer | meniñ alğan nesiem | the loan I took |
| the participle + case | "the one who / what" | aıtqanyn tüsindim | I understood what he said |
By example
- Кеше сұхбаттан өткен үміткер хабарластыThe candidate who passed the interview yesterday got in touch
- Банкте істейтін досым несие туралы айтып бердіMy friend, who works at a bank, told me about the loan
- Дәрігердің айтқанын дәптерге жазып алдымWhat the doctor said, I wrote down in my notebook
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
-ğan and -atyn: how does it work in Kazakh?
English builds "the man who called yesterday" with a relative clause: who plus a verb, after the noun. Kazakh builds it inside out: first the modifier, then the defined word, and the verb inside turns into a participle. Keshe qoñirau shağan adam — word for word "the yesterday-called man". This is…
What does it look like in an example sentence Kazakh?
“Кеше сұхбаттан өткен үміткер хабарласты” — The candidate who passed the interview yesterday got in touch. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.