meaning
er, sie, es, sie
see also
semantic space · lipamanka
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.
ku translations
its100 her95 them90 their83 he80 him80 she80 they79 his73 it73 themselves53 itself47 herself36 himself36
pu verbatim
NOMEN er, sie, es, sie (3. Person plural)
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
Coined in a poll in 2002. Replaced "iki", which was deemed too similar to "ike". Other options in the poll included "ipi", as well as "i" in a previous poll.
sitelen pona
onaperhaps a hand pointing sideways. compare mi and sina
sitelen sitelen
sitelen jelo
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sitelen Emosi
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ucsur
U+F1946