اونه

What it means

اونه (une) means “that’s it,” “it’s that one,” or “it’s that.” It is the spoken Tehrani contraction of آنست (ânast), the demonstrative آن (ân) plus the copula “is.”

How to use it

• اونه که گفتم (une ke goftam) “that’s the one I told you about”
• دقیقاً اونه (daqiqan une) “exactly, that’s it”
• مشکل اونه (moshkel une) “that’s the problem”

Formal pair

Spoken: اونه (une). Formal/written: آنست (ânast) or آن است (ân ast). You will rarely see ânast outside literary or legal text. Une is purely conversational and has a sense of pointing, of finally landing on the right answer.

Cultural note

Iranians use une as a verbal punchline. Picture a long argument at a family dinner about which neighbor is the loudest. Someone finally names the right one and a chorus of “اونه، اونه!” (une, une!) closes the case. It carries a small triumph in just three letters.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab