Old Church SlavonicEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Slavic *ono.

PronounEdit

оно (ono)

  1. it
  2. nominative/accusative singular neuter of онъ (onŭ)

DeclensionEdit

See alsoEdit

RussianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ono.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): [ɐˈno]
  • (file)

PronounEdit

оно́ (onó) (masculine counterpart он, feminine counterpart она́)

  1. it (third-person neuter singular pronoun)

Usage notesEdit

  • Whenever a preposition stands immediately before any of the oblique cases of the third-person pronoun (singular or plural) and directly governs it, then an н- must be prefixed to the pronoun: от него́ (ot nevó) (from it), на нём (na njom) (on it), у него́ (u nevó) (it has), к нему́ (k nemú) (to it), с ним (s nim) (with it).
  • This comes from Proto-Slavic prepositions 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.
  • Note that if the preposition does not directly govern его́ (jevó) (i.e., when его́ (jevó) is a possessive pronoun), then н- is not prefixed: в его́ положе́нии (v jevó položénii) (in its position), о его́ тка́ни (o jevó tkáni) (about its fabric), с его́ ве́сом (s jevó vésom) (with its weight).
  • When there is another word separating a preposition and any oblique case of оно, the н- is not added: у самого́ его́ (u samovó jevó) (with it itself).

DeclensionEdit

Related termsEdit

Serbo-CroatianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Slavic *ono, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ónos.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ǒno/
  • Hyphenation: о‧но

PronounEdit

о̀но (Latin spelling òno)

  1. it

DeclensionEdit