Relative Clauses (Ke)

Relative Clauses (ke)

To say "the man who came" or "the book that I bought", Persian marks the noun with -i and links the clause with ke.

The Pattern

noun + -i + ke + clause

Key Points

• The -i on the noun is obligatory, it signals "the one that...". Without it the sentence falls apart.
• ke covers who, whom, which and that all at once. One word, no choices.
• After a vowel the marker becomes -yi: "khoone-yi ke".
• If the noun is the object inside the relative clause, the object marker ro goes after the whole phrase: "mard-i ro ke didam", though in speech it's often dropped.
• The relative clause always follows the noun, never before it.

Examples