Sometimes when we run up against participle phrases like the ones found on the Turkish Participles page, we get a bit confused. When that happens, we try to take a step-by-step translation approach...

Consider this example,
of a Present Participle phrase...

Cinayet hakkInda bilgisi olan herkes...

Here's how you might approach the translation in steps...

1. First translate the noun, to the right, that fronts the participle phrase, along with any words that may modify it.

   In this example, the noun (which happens to be modifier-less) is, herkes; everybody/anybody.

2. Next, insert the word "who" (or "whom" or "which" or "that" or "when", whichever seems to fit the situation best!).

3. Now, look at the ending on the participle, olan (the present participle of olmak); when you've confirmed that it is a present participle ending, translate it as, having. (Yes, olmak can mean to have too. Check your dictionary, la z y. And BTW, you could also translate olan, in this case, as who has, if you like...)

4. Then, keep moving left, translating each word as you go....
5. knowledge
6. about
7. the murder

Consider this example,
of a third person 'Past Personal' Participle phrase...

Osman ve oglu’nun Bizans üstüne sürdürdükleri bu saldIrIlar…

Here's how you might approach the translation in steps...

1. First, translate the noun that fronts the participle phrase, along with any words that may modify it. In this example, the noun and its modifier are, "bu saldIrIlar"; "these attacks".

2. Next, insert the word "that" (or "which" or "who/whom" or "when", whichever seems to fit the situation best!).

3. Now, look at the personal ending on the participle; when you've confirmed that it is third person (this one, 'leri' is third person plural), scan to the left of the participle until you find a word (or word group) with a possessive suffix (-in, -In, -ün, -un).

   In this sentence, you find the word group: "Osman ve oglu’nun". So, "Osman and his son", is the 'subject' of the participle phrase.

4. Next translate the participle itself, sürdürdükleri -- to mean simply, [they] continued. And, we can drop the "they" since we've already established "Osman and his son" as the subject of the phrase -- which leaves us with, "Osman and his son continued"...

5. And then we finish up, by translating the rest of the phrase, going backward (moving to the left) from the participle: "on the Byzantium Empire".

Another third person 'Past Personal' Participle phrase example...

...genis kitlenin kolayca anladIgI "yasayan dil"...

Here the approach [from the previous example] yields the following:

1. ..."yasayan dil"; the "living language"
2. that
3. genis kitlenin; the broad mass of people
4. anladIgI; understand
5. kolayca; rather easily...

6. ...the "living language" that the broad mass of people understand rather easily...

And an example first person, plural 'Past Personal' participle phrase...
(this translation approach differs just a leetle from the technique in the two previous examples. But, see if you can follow along anyway...)

Istanbul TopkapIdaki Ahmediye camiinin caddeye yakIn kapIsIndan gördügümüz abideler...

Which could be translated as...

1. ...abideler; the monuments
2. that
3. gördügümüz; we see [saw]
4. kapIsIndan; from the gate
5. caddeye yakIn; near the [main] road
6. TopkapIdaki Ahmediye camiinin; of the Ahmedi Mosque (the Blue Mosque) at TopkapI
7. Istanbul; in Istanbul...

8. ...the monuments that we see [saw] from the gate near the [main] road of the Ahmedi Mosque at TopkapI in Istanbul...

And what about a final tricky (?) one --
a complete sentence translation
just to keep you on your toes...

KazanIn kendi hatamdan oldugunu belirten bir belge imzaladIm.

Here's how this one might work out:

1. imzaladIm; I signed
2. bir belge; a document
3. belirten; stating
   [Note: the verb stem here is 'belirt' not 'belir', and the present participle ending has been added, giving 'belirt-en'...You weren't confused, thinking it was 'belir-ten', were you?]
4. that
5. KazanIn; the accident
6. oldugunu; had been (happened)
   [This is another instance of a Turkish 'faux-participle' that we prefer to think of as the main verb of a noun clause. In that case, we can think of the whole noun clause as being the direct object
   of the present participle, belirten.]
7. kendi hatamdan; (because of) my own fault.

8. I signed a document stating that the accident had been my own fault.

Oh, let's just keep going,
now that we're on such a roll...

Try this longer full length sentence --
with double 'present' participles...

¹Avrupa ile Asya arasInda bölme hattI görevi yapan^{1 2}bogazI karsIdan karsIya geçen^{2 3}trafik simdi Bogaziçi Köprüsü'nü kullanmaktadIr³.

Shall we begin...?

1. The first thing we notice is that the sentence does indeed contain two 'present' participles (yapan and geçen).

2. Next we notice that these two 'present' participles reside in two participle phrases.
   The first participle phrase starts with Avrupa and ends with yapan, the second participle phrase starts with bogazI and ends with geçen.
   Does this info help us see that the sentence contains three separate parts? Two participle phrases and one...?
   Use the numerical superscription as a visual aid.

3. Then, we see that the two phrases "touch" each other.
   They touch at the word
   bogazI; narrow waterway, strait
   immediately to the right of the first 'present' participle,
   yapan.
   So the first 'present' participle phrase is meant to modify the noun bogazI.
   If we need assurance on this point,
   we can remember the examples we've already done above.
   And interestingly, bogazI itself, is the object noun of the second participle phrase. So, even though we don't know what these phrases mean yet, we do know that the two are connected together by the word bogazI.

   And we know one other thing...We know that the second participle phrase is meant to modify something too, immediately to its right too...And what do we find there?

4. What about the remaining part of the sentence? The part that carries on from trafik to kullanmaktadIr? Well, since the two participle phrases are mere adjectival modifiers, this remaining part must contain the main point of the sentence! And so it does...

   And it's a good place to start our translation for meaning, in earnest! Because even though Turks may not agree with us, we like to know the main point of the sentence first -- before we take time to deal with mere adjectival modifying phrases...Harrumph. Yes, we do, Ollie.

5. And, here's how the translation of the main point might work out:

   ...³trafik simdi Bogaziçi Köprüsü'nü kullanmaktadIr.³

   1. First, we find the subject of the clause:
      trafik; traffic, is the only logical choice
   2. Then working from back to front, we insert the verb meaning:
      kullanmaktadIr; is using
   3. Bogaziçi Köprüsü'nü; the Bosphorus Bridge
   4. simdi; now

   5. Traffic is using the Bosphorus bridge now
      And let's set this aside for the mo'.

6. Now is the time to deal with the mere adjectival modifying phrases...

   Our experience in translating the participle phrases in the previous examples should help us here, if we remember that:

   • participle phrases must be translated from right to left
   • translation of participle phrases should start with the word to the right of the participle

7. With those points in mind, here's how the translation of the second participle phrase might work out...

   ²bogazI karsIdan karsIya geçen² trafik

   1. trafik; traffic
   2. karsIdan karsIya geçen; that crosses, crossing
   3. bogazI; the strait

   4. traffic crossing the strait
      And let's set this aside too.

8. That leaves us with the first participle phrase --

   ¹Avrupa ile Asya arasInda bölme hattI görevi yapan¹ bogazI

   1. bogazI; the strait
   2. görevi yapan; that does duty as, that works as, that serves as
   3. bölme hattI; the dividing line
   4. Avrupa ile Asya arIsInda; between Europe and Asia

   5. the strait that serves as the dividing line between Europe and Asia

9. We're coming down the home stretch now...

   So let's line up the three parts, in reverse Turkish word order, to see what we have.

   • Traffic is using the Bosphorus Bridge now
   • the traffic crossing the strait
   • the strait that serves as the dividing line between Europe and Asia

10. Then finally, according to our own personal tastes...we may join and then smooooth these 3 sentence parts -- remembering as we go, that the two participle phrases should remain connected together at the word bogazI; strait...

11. Traffic, crossing the strait that serves as the dividing line between Europe and Asia, now uses the Bosphorus Bridge.

    Wow! We did it!

And, how about just one more --
combining the recarsitive, infibratory, and lostangeles constructions of the present and future perfect participles
(in reductio)...

Just kidding !!!
Well.
We had to do somethin' --
'cause you were gettin' that
real serious look on your face again...