ona

meaning

(third-person pronoun) he, she, it, they

ona is the only third person pronoun in toki pona. unlike ni, ona is seldom used except for to point at objects from previous sentences. toki ponists don't usually use it to talk about things they're pointing at with their fingers. ona has no animacy connotation, just as no toki pona word does (except for maybe jan). ona can just as easily refer to a block of wood or a doorknob as it can to a human or animal. It also has no gender connotation, just like every other toki pona word, so it can just as easily mean he or she or they.

pu verbatim

NOUN he, she, it, they

ku translations

its¹⁰⁰ her⁹⁵ them⁹⁰ their⁸³ he⁸⁰ him⁸⁰ she⁸⁰ they⁷⁹ his⁷³ it⁷³ themselves⁵³ itself⁴⁷ herself³⁶ himself³⁶

usage

core · 100% usage

found in pu

coined pre-pu

origin

Serbo-Croatian · она ona ‘she’

coined by jan Sonja

listen

kala Asi

jan Lakuse

commentary

This word was coined in a poll in 2002. It replaced "iki", which was deemed too similar-sounding to "ike". Other options in the poll included "ipi" and "i".

sitelen pona

ona

perhaps a hand pointing sideways. compare mi and sina

sitelen sitelen

sitelen jelo

👈♋️

sitelen Emosi

👆

ucsur

U+F1946

luka pona

gif · mp4

ona