Relative Clauses

Introduction to Relative Clauses in Persian

In this chapter you learn how to connect two sentences by giving more information about a noun, using what in English is often introduced by “who,” “which,” or “that.” In Persian this structure is simpler than in English and is a key ingredient of more natural, complex sentences.

Remember that this chapter builds on what you already know about basic sentence structure and the present and past tenses, so we will focus only on what is special about relative clauses.

The basic Persian relative marker: «که»

Persian uses one main word to introduce almost all relative clauses: «که» /ke/. It can correspond to “who,” “which,” or “that” in English.

Consider two simple sentences:

Ali is a teacher.
Ali lives in Tehran.

In Persian:

علی معلم است.
علی در تهران زندگی می‌کند.

We can join these into one sentence:

علی که در تهران زندگی می‌کند معلم است.
Ali, who lives in Tehran, is a teacher.

Here «که» introduces a clause that gives extra information about علی (Ali). Unlike English, we do not change «که» according to “who/which/that.” This is one of the biggest advantages of Persian.

Position of the relative clause

The relative clause directly follows the noun it describes, without commas in writing (although a pause is often heard in speech when it is non-essential information).

Noun + که + clause

For example:

کتابی که خریدم خیلی جالب است.
The book that I bought is very interesting.

The head noun is کتابی (a book / the book). The relative clause که خریدم (that I bought) comes immediately after کتابی and before the rest of the sentence خیلی جالب است (is very interesting).

Another example with a person:

دختری که آنجا نشسته است خواهرِ من است.
The girl who is sitting there is my sister.

Head noun: دختری (girl)
Relative clause: که آنجا نشسته است (who is sitting there)
Main clause: خواهرِ من است (is my sister)

Subject inside the relative clause

In Persian, the noun that the relative clause describes is usually seen as outside the clause. This means that inside the clause you often do not repeat it with a pronoun.

Compare in English:
“The man who is standing there is my teacher.”

In Persian:

مردی که آنجا ایستاده است معلمِ من است.
The man who is standing there is my teacher.

Inside the relative clause که آنجا ایستاده است there is no extra pronoun for “he.” The head noun مردی (a man / the man) is understood as the subject of the verb ایستاده است (is standing).

Another example:

دانش‌آموزانی که امروز امتحان دارند نگران هستند.
The students who have an exam today are worried.

Here, دانش‌آموزانی is the head noun. Inside the relative clause که امروز امتحان دارند, the verb دارند is conjugated for “they,” but there is no آنها. It is understood from دانش‌آموزانی.

Object inside the relative clause and the object marker «را»

Very often, the noun described by the relative clause plays the role of the object of the verb inside the clause. In this case, Persian behaves differently from English.

Look at these English sentences:

“This is the book that I read.”
“I read the book.”

In Persian we start from the basic sentence:

من کتاب را خواندم.
I read the book.

Now we want “the book that I read”:

کتابی را که خواندم خیلی دوست داشتم.
I really liked the book that I read.

Here several points are important.

کتابی is the head noun.
The object marker «را» stays with the noun it belongs to and appears before «که»: کتابی را که خواندم.
Inside the relative clause (که خواندم) there is no repeated object and no «را».

This structure is very typical and might feel unusual at first.

Another example:

مردی را که دیروز دیدم می‌شناسی؟
Do you know the man that I saw yesterday?

Basic sentence: دیروز آن مرد را دیدم.
I saw that man yesterday.

Relative version:
مردی را که دیروز دیدم می‌شناسی؟
Literally: The man را that I saw yesterday, do you know?

Relative clauses about things vs people

Unlike English, Persian does not distinguish “who” (for people) and “which/that” (for things). In all cases you use «که».

For people:

پسری که کنارِ پنجره نشسته دوستِ من است.
The boy who is sitting next to the window is my friend.

برای مردم:

زنی که با او صحبت کردی همکارِ من است.
The woman that you spoke with is my colleague.

For things:

فیلمی که دیشب دیدیم خیلی خنده‌دار بود.
The movie that we watched last night was very funny.

کتابی که می‌خوانم درباره‌ی ایران است.
The book that I am reading is about Iran.

For animals:

سگی که توی باغ می‌دود خیلی بزرگ است.
The dog that is running in the garden is very big.

In all these examples, «که» works the same way. You do not change it.

Relative clauses and word order inside the clause

Inside a relative clause, the word order is the same as in normal Persian sentences: subject, then objects and complements, and finally the verb.

Compare:

من در تهران زندگی می‌کنم.
I live in Tehran.

مردی که در تهران زندگی می‌کند پزشک است.
The man who lives in Tehran is a doctor.

Inside the relative clause: در تهران (in Tehran) + زندگی می‌کند (lives), and the understood subject is مردی.

Another example:

من این فیلم را دوست ندارم.
I do not like this movie.

فیلمی را که دوست ندارم نگاه نمی‌کنم.
I do not watch a movie that I do not like.

Inside the relative clause: دوست ندارم (I do not like), where the object is understood from فیلمی را.

Essential vs extra information

Relative clauses can give essential information (“the book that is on the table” which tells us which book) or extra information (“my brother, who lives in London, is coming”). Persian uses «که» for both. The difference is mostly in intonation and sometimes punctuation when writing, but the grammar is the same.

Essential information:

دانشجویی که آنجا ایستاده است ایرانی است.
The student who is standing there is Iranian.

Here, the clause helps us identify which student.

Extra information:

برادرم که در لندن زندگی می‌کند مهندس است.
My brother, who lives in London, is an engineer.

Here, you probably already know which brother, and the clause only adds extra detail. In speech, there is usually a small pause before and after که در لندن زندگی می‌کند, but we do not change the structure.

Relative clauses with prepositions

Sometimes the relative idea in English uses a preposition plus “whom/which”: “with whom,” “to which,” “for which,” “about which.” In Persian you normally place the preposition before «او / آن» or simply keep it inside the clause without adding any special relative pronoun.

Look at this sentence pair:

I spoke with the teacher.
The teacher is very kind.

Persian basic sentence:

من با معلم صحبت کردم.
I spoke with the teacher.

Now a relative clause:

معلمی که با او صحبت کردم خیلی مهربان است.
The teacher with whom I spoke is very kind.

Here, با او (with him/her) appears inside the clause, after «که». We do not say معلمی با که صحبت کردم.

Another example with a thing:

This is the house that I live in.
In colloquial English: “the house that I live in.”

Persian:

این خانه‌ای است که در آن زندگی می‌کنم.
This is the house in which I live.

Inside the clause we use در آن (in it), and «که» introduces the whole clause.

Notice the two important patterns.

For people:

شخصی که با او کار می‌کنم خیلی باتجربه است.
The person with whom I work is very experienced.

For things or places:

شهری که در آن به دنیا شدم خیلی بزرگ است.
The city in which I was born is very big.

In everyday spoken Persian, speakers often prefer simpler wording, sometimes leaving out «او / آن» when context is very clear. At B1 level you should first master the clear, complete patterns above.

Relative clauses in present and past tenses

Relative clauses can appear in any tense. The choice of tense in the clause is independent of the main verb tense.

Present tense inside the clause:

زنی که اینجا کار می‌کند فرانسوی است.
The woman who works here is French.

کتابی که می‌خوانم فارسی است.
The book that I am reading is in Persian.

Past tense inside the clause:

مردی که دیروز دیدم همسایه‌ی من است.
The man that I saw yesterday is my neighbor.

فیلمی که دیشب دیدیم کسل‌کننده بود.
The movie that we watched last night was boring.

A present main clause with past relative clause:

دانش‌آموزانی که سالِ گذشته در کلاسِ من بودند حالا در دانشگاه هستند.
The students who were in my class last year are now at university.

The relative clause uses بودند (were) to talk about the past, while the main clause uses هستند (are) for now.

Chains of relative clauses

Sometimes you may have more than one relative clause in a sentence, or a relative clause that itself contains another descriptive phrase. At B1 level you should practice at least one relative clause per sentence, but you will sometimes see longer chains.

For example:

مردی که دیشب در مهمانی دیدم و با تو صحبت می‌کرد دوستِ قدیمیِ من است.
The man that I saw at the party last night and who was speaking with you is my old friend.

Here, two actions (دیدم and صحبت می‌کرد) are combined with و inside one long relative description after مردی که.

Another chain:

کتابی که از کتابخانه‌ای که نزدیکِ خانه‌ام است گرفتم خیلی مفید بود.
The book that I borrowed from the library that is near my house was very useful.

At B1 you are not expected to produce such nested clauses fluently, but you should be able to recognize how they are built: each «که» introduces a new clause that describes the noun before it.

Colloquial tendencies and stylistic notes

In spoken Persian, especially informal conversation, speakers sometimes:

shorten or drop «است» at the end of relative clauses in the present,
simplify pronouns like «آن» to «اون» and «او» to «اون»,
avoid very long, nested relative structures, preferring shorter sentences.

But the basic rule using «که» remains. If you can build clear relative clauses with «که» in standard form, it is easy later to follow informal variations.

Examples in a more colloquial style (written here in standard spelling, but with spoken flavor noted in pronunciation):

پسری که دیروز دیدی، دوستِ منه.
The boy you saw yesterday is my friend.
(In speech: دوستِ منه ≈ dooste mane.)

فیلمی که دیشب دیدیم، خیلی خوب بود.
The movie we watched last night was very good.

At this level you should continue to speak and write in the safer, slightly more formal style you are learning. Exposure to native speech will gradually make you comfortable with colloquial shortening.

Practice suggestions

To become comfortable with relative clauses in Persian, try these activities for yourself:

Take two simple sentences that share the same noun and combine them with «که».
Rewrite object sentences using the pattern [Noun] + را + که + [verb], for example: کتاب را که خواندم …
Create sentences with different tenses inside the relative clause and the main clause, for example: “The film that I watched yesterday is about Iran.”

The more you practice placing the head noun correctly before «که», and the more you pay attention to where «را» and prepositions go, the more natural complex Persian sentences will feel.

Vocabulary list for this section