the
the - English
Pronunciation
- (when unstressed and prevocalic)
- enPR: thē, IPA: /ði/, /ðɪ/
The word the is commonly pronounced /ðiː/ whenever it is pronounced as a distinct word, e.g.:
- When it is used for emphasis (This is the hospital for open-heart surgery).
- When the speaker pauses between the and the next word (the … sovereignty).
- In many but not all dialects, when the next word begins with a vowel sound (the onion) (compare with a vs. an).
The word is generally pronounced indistinctly as /ðə/ or merely /ð/ in other situations, such as when attached to a word beginning with a consonant sound.
The typographical pronunciation /jiː/ ("Ye Old...") is a deliberately archaic retronym from ye, which is a variant spelling of þe, from Old English þē pronounced thē, /θeː/, /ðeː/ (using y in place of the thorn (þ). It is not actually a separate pronunciation in Middle English. The actual morpheme /jiː/ in Middle English represents ȝe-, a variant spelling of the prefix y- attached to verbs and used to denote a verbal past participle.
Article
the
- Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it hints at is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already completely specified.
- I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.)
- The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.)
- The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird.
- Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause.
- The street that runs through my hometown.
- Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time.
- No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe.
- God save the Queen!
- Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item.
- That was the best apple pie ever.
- Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive.
- That apple pie was the best.
- Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class.
- Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective.
- Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
- Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar.
- No one in the whole country had seen it before.
- I don't think I'll get to it until the morning.
- Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun.
- A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”)
- When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention.
- That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery.
Usage notes
The word the precedes proper nouns in a number of cases, although most proper nouns use no article. There are always exceptions. See also English proper nouns for more information.
- Countries
As a general rule, country names are not preceded by the. There are a few exceptions, most of which are pluralised:
- The Netherlands
- The Bahamas
- The Solomon Islands
- The Maldives
- The Seychelles
- The Philippines
- The Yemen (can also be used without an article)
- The Sudan (can also be used without an article)
- The Ukraine (article dropped since 1991)
- The Lebanon (usually used without the article)
Names of countries containing specifications like kingdom, republic etc are used with the:
- The United States of America
- The United Kingdom
- The United Arab Emirates
- The Czech Republic
- The Swiss Confederation
- The Kingdom of Denmark
- The Republic of Austria
- The Sultanate of Oman
- The European Union
- Place names
Some place names use a definite article:
- All oceans (The Atlantic Ocean, The Pacific Ocean)
- All seas (The Red Sea, The Bering Sea, The Caribbean Sea), and straits (The Strait of Magellan, the Bering Strait, The Bosphorus)
- All rivers (The Amazon, The Nile, The Mississippi, The Seine, The Yangtze), canals (The Panama Canal, The Suez Canal) and deltas (The Nile Delta, The Orinoco Delta, The Colorado River Delta)
- All art galleries (The Tate, The Louvre, The Smithsonian American Art Museum), all museums with the word museum in the name (The Museum of Natural History, The British Museum)
- Most English-language newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian, The Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal)
- All North American railroads, even when not referred to by their full names or only by nicknames (The Pennsylvania Railroad, The Reading (Reading Railroad), The Frisco (St. Louis–San Francisco Railway))
- Some towns (the Bronx, The Hague, The Valley, The Farrington, The Quarter, The Plains, The Dalles, The Villages, The Woodlands, The Pas, the Vatican, The Hyde, the West End, the East End, or the City of ...)
- Bands
Musical bands with a plural name are generally used with the:
- The Beatles
- The Rolling Stones
- Universities
University names beginning with the word "University", and some other university names, are used with the:
- The University of North Carolina
- The Ohio State University
When used before an adjective which is not followed by a noun, it may refer to a group of people for which the adjective is appropriate:
- the Scottish = Scots
- the rich = rich people (considered as a group)
Alternative forms
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
|
|
|
Adverb
the (not comparable)
- With a comparative or with more and a verb phrase, establishes a correlation with one or more other such comparatives.
- The hotter(,) the better. (comma usually omitted in such very short expressions)
- The more I think about it, the weaker it looks.
- The more money donated, the more books purchased, and the more happy children.
- It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it.
- With a comparative, and often with for it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated with none.
- It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it.
- It was a difficult time, and I’m {none - not any} the wiser for it.
- I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that.
Usage notes
This is called the "comparative correlative", but it is also known as the "correlative construction", the "conditional comparative", or the "the...the construction".
Derived terms
Translations
|
Preposition
the
- For each; per.
- valued at half a pound the bushel; paying seven dollars the year interest
Anagrams
the - Crimean Gothic
Article
the
Usage notes
While it is likely that Crimean Gothic retained grammatical gender, de Busbecq's letter does not mention which articles are used with which words, making it impossible to reconstruct their gender.
the - Danish
Noun
the c
- Alternative spelling of te (“tea”)
Declension
| common gender | Singular | |
|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | the | theen |
| genitive | thes | theens |
the - Eastern Arrernte
Pronoun
the
- I (first person singular pronoun)
the - Hadza
Pronunciation
- IPA: /tʰe/
Pronoun
the m (fem. theko)
- you (thou)
Related terms
the - Interlingua
Pronunciation
- IPA: /te/
Noun
the (plural thes)
the - Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA: [hɛ]
Adjective
the
- Lenited form of te.
the - Italian
Noun
the
- Misspelling of tè.
the - Middle English
Article
the
- Alternative form of þe (“the”)
Pronoun
the
- Alternative form of þe (“thee”)
Pronoun
the
- Alternative form of þei (“they”)
Verb
the
- Alternative form of theen
the - Murrinh-Patha
Noun
the
the - Old High German
Alternative forms
Particle
the (indeclinable, relative)
the - Old Saxon
Determiner
thē
Declension
Descendants
Particle
the (indeclinable, relative)
the - Phalura
Pronunciation
- IPA: /tʰe/
Postposition
the (تھےۡ)
- to
- for
- at
the - Scots
Determiner
the
the - Serbo-Croatian
Conjunction
the (no known Cyrillic variant)
the - South Slavey
Pronunciation
- IPA: /θɛ̀/
Noun
the
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | sedheé | naxedheé |
| 2nd person | nedheé | |
| 3rd person1) | medheé | gidheé |
| 3rd person2) | godheé | |
| 4th person | yedheé | |
| reflexive | ɂededheé, dedheé | kededheé |
| reciprocal | — | ɂełedheé |
| indefinite | ɂedheé | |
| areal | godheé | |
| 1) Used for a possessed object when the subject is third person human plural and object is singular. 2) Used when the previous condition doesn't apply. | ||
the - Swedish
Noun
the n
Declension
| Declension of the | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | the | theet | theer | theerna |
| Genitive | thes | theets | theers | theernas |
Anagrams
the - Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA: [tʰɛ˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA: [tʰɛ˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA: [tʰɛ˧˧]
Noun
the
Adjective
the • (𦂛, 𫄋)
the - Welsh
Noun
the
- Aspirate mutation of te.
Mutation
| Welsh mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
| te | de | nhe | the |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | |||
the - Yola
Article
the
- Alternative form of a (“the”)