onen

Literary Demonstrative Onen

Level 6

Onen (masculine), oná (feminine) and ono (neuter) point to something far away in time or place, mentioned earlier, or widely known. It changes like ten: onoho / oného, onomu / onému, onom, oným; onej, onú, onou.

How It Works

Meaning. Onen is a literary word for "that". The Slovak academic morphology describes three uses:

  • something far away in time or place, or mentioned earlier: v onen deň (on that day), v onú noc (on that night)
  • something known from history, literature or tradition: ako onen šťastný kráľ (like that happy king)
  • the second of two, in pairs: ten i onen (this one and that one, everybody), o tom i onom (about this and that)

The fixed phrase onen svet means the next world: odísť na onen svet (to die), na onom svete (in the afterlife).

Forms. It changes like ten:

  • masculine: onen, onoho / oného, onomu / onému, onom, oným
  • feminine: oná, onej, onú, onou
  • neuter: ono, otherwise like the masculine
  • plural: oní (men), oné (others), oných, oným, onými

The usual case rules apply, so a time phrase with v + accusative gives v onen deň, and a place with na + locative gives na onom svete.

Style. In everyday speech use ten or tamten: v ten deň, tamten dom. Neuter ono looks the same as the pronoun ono (it), but the context shows which one is meant.

Examples (6)

  1. V onen deň sa všetko zmenilo.

    On that day, everything changed.

    Word by Word: In that day self everything changed.

  2. Starý otec už odišiel na onen svet.

    Grandfather has already passed away.

    Word by Word: Old father already left onto that world.

    Na + accusative for the direction: na onen svet.

  3. Stretneme sa na onom svete.

    We'll meet in the next world.

    Word by Word: We-will-meet self on that world.

    Na + locative for the place: na onom svete.

  4. Celý večer sa rozprávali o tom i onom.

    All evening they talked about this and that.

    Word by Word: Whole evening self they-talked about this and that.

  5. Už to vedel ten i onen.

    By then, everybody knew about it.

    Word by Word: Already it knew this and that-one.

  6. V onú noc nikto v dedine nespal.

    On that night, nobody in the village slept.

    Word by Word: In that night nobody in village not-slept.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the wrong case after na for a place.

    Stretneme sa na onen svete.
    Stretneme sa na onom svete.

    For a location, na takes the locative, and onen becomes onom like ten → tom.

  • Using the locative in a time phrase with v.

    V onom deň sa všetko zmenilo.
    V onen deň sa všetko zmenilo.

    Time phrases like v ten deň take the accusative, and the accusative of inanimate onen is onen.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

onenLevel 6Literary Demonstrative Onen

Learn This First

Before Literary Demonstrative onen, learn That One by Gender. onen is a literary version of ten.