Macedonian

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *onъ.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈɔni]
  • Hyphenation: о‧ни

Pronoun

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о́ни (óni)

  1. (dialectal) they
    Synonym: (standard) ти́е (tíe)

References

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  • они” in Дигитален речник на македонскиот јазик (Digitalen rečnik na makedonskiot jazik) [Digital dictionary of the Macedonian language] − drmj.eu

Nanai

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Etymology

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From Proto-Tungusic *uńe.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /oɲi/
  • Hyphenation: о‧ни

Noun

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они (oni)

  1. mountain river

Derived terms

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References

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  • S. N. Onenko (1980) “они”, in V. A. Avrorina, editor, Нанайско-русский словарь [Nanai-Russian dictionary], Русский язык

Russian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old East Slavic они (oni), from Proto-Slavic *onъ.

The prefixation of /n/ after prepositions comes from Proto-Slavic forms such as *sъ(n) (sŭ(n), "with", cf. Greek σύν, Latin cum), that originally ended in -n and governed oblique cases. Since the prepositions and the pronouns occurred together so often, it was easy to lose track of which word the final -n belonged to, and the n was reinterpreted as part of the pronouns (Old English an, in the same way, lost its -n except before vowels, and sometimes gave it to the following word, as in English adder from Old English nædre), so that Proto-Slavic *sъ(n) *jьmi became modern Russian с ни́ми (s ními), and this new rule was extended to all prepositions governing any third-person pronoun.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ɐˈnʲi]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -i

Pronoun

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они́ (oní)

  1. (the third-person plural) they
  2. (the third-person singular, usually humorous or colloquial or dated) they
  3. (the third-person singular, gender-neutral, proscribed) they

Usage notes

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  • An н is prefixed to any third-person pronoun in an oblique case whenever a preposition that directly governs it is immediately in front of it: от неё (ot nejó) (from her), на нём (na njom) (on him), у них (u nix) (they have), к нему́ (k nemú) (to him), с не́ю (s néju) (with her).
  • When the preposition does not directly govern его́, её, их (jevó, jejó, ix) (i.e., when they are possessive pronouns), then no н- is inserted: у его́ бра́та (u jevó bráta) (at his brother’s), о её ма́тери (o jejó máteri) (about her mother), в их ко́мнате (v ix kómnate) (in their room).
  • While Russian does not have an official pronoun for non-binary individuals, some have claimed the usage of они (oni) as an equivalent to the singular they in English.

Declension

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Serbo-Croatian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ǒni/
  • Hyphenation: о‧ни

Pronoun

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о̀ни (Latin spelling òni)

  1. they (nominative plural of о̑н (he))

Declension

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