A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun. For example, the noun phrase the man who wasn't there contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there. In many European languages, relative clauses are introduced by a special class of pronouns called relative pronouns; in the previous example, who is a relative pronoun.

In other languages, relative clauses may be marked in different ways: they may be introduced by a special class of conjunctions called relativizers; the main verb of the relative clause may appear in a special morphological variant; or a relative clause may be indicated by word order alone. In some languages, more than one of these mechanisms may be possible. The antecedent of the relative clause (that is, the noun that is modified by it) can in theory be the subject of the main clause, or its object, or any other verb argument.

In many languages, however, especially rigidly left-branching, dependent-marking languages with prenominal relative clauses, there are major restrictions on the role the antecedent may have in the relative clause. According to the classic study of Bernard Comrie, noun phrases can be ranked in the following order from most accessible to least accessible: If a language can relativise positions lower in the accessibility hierarchy, it can always relativise positions higher up, but not vice versa. For example, Malagasy can relativise only subject and Chukchi only absolutive arguments, whilst Basque can relativise absolutives, ergatives and indirect objects, but not obliques or genitives or objects of comparatives.

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