اون

What it means

اون (un) means “that” or “that one.” It is the spoken Tehrani contraction of آن (ân), the distal demonstrative pronoun. Pair it with این (in), “this,” to cover the basic pointing system in Persian.

How to use it

• اون کیه؟ (un kiye) “who is that?”
• اون کتاب رو بده (un ketâb ro bede) “give me that book”
• اون خیلی خوبه (un kheyli khube) “that one is really good”

Formal pair

Spoken: اون (un). Written or formal: آن (ân). You will see ân in news headlines, books, and any formal context. Un is the form you actually hear from morning to night in Tehran. Both mean the same thing.

Cultural note

Un also doubles as the casual 3rd-person pronoun “he” or “she,” since Persian has no gender. اون رفت (un raft), “he went” or “she went,” depending on context. That gender-neutrality often surprises new learners and feels refreshing in a world of pronoun debates.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab