the

See also: thé, thè, thế, thẻ, thể, the-, and þe

English

Pronunciation
  • (when stressed or prevocalic)
    • (UK) enPR: thē, IPA(key): /ðiː/
    • (US) enPR: thē, IPA(key): /ði/
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Rhymes: -iː
  • (when unstressed and preconsonantal)
    • enPR: thə, IPA(key): /ðə/ (but see notes below)
    • Audio (CA)(file)
    • Audio (US)(file)
    • Rhymes: (generally not applicable as the unstressed variant is never used to terminate a phrase)
pronunciation notes

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 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" vs. "ye"


Etymology 1

From Middle English the, from Old English þē (“the, that”, demonstrative pronoun), a late variant of sē. Originally masculine nominative, in Middle English it superseded all previous Old English forms (sē, sēo, þæt, þā), from Proto-Germanic *sa, from Proto-Indo-European *só.

Article

the

  1. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already completely specified. [from 10th c.]
    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.
    1. 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.
  2. Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. [from 10th c.]
    No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe.
    God save the Queen!
  3. 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.
    1. Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. [from 9th c.]
      That apple pie was the best.
  4. Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. [from 9th c.]
    • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, page 536:
      Stern and God-fearing, the Afrikaner takes his religion seriously.
  5. Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. [from 9th c.]
    Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
  6. Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. [from 12th c.]
    No one in the whole country had seen it before.
    I don't think I'll get to it until the morning.
  7. Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. [from 12th c.]
    A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”)
  8. When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. [from 18th c.]
    That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:
      “New Kid On The Block” doubles as a terrific showcase for the Sea Captain who, in the grand tradition of Simpsons supporting characters, quickly goes from being a stereotype to an archetype, from being a crusty sea-captain character to the crusty sea-captain character.
Usage notes
Usage notes (with proper nouns)

The word the precedes proper nouns in a number of cases, although most proper nouns use no article. There are always exceptions. See also Appendix: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:

Names of countries containing specifications like kingdom, republic etc are used with the:

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))
Bands

Musical bands with a plural name are generally used with the:

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
Usage notes (with adjectives)

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
  • ẏe (obsolete), ẏe (archaic): variant spelling of the.
  • ye (archaic)
  • de (eye dialect, AAVE)
  • da (d'), teh (informal or dialectal)
  • t' (Northern England)
  • th'
Synonyms
Derived terms
terms derived from the (determiner)
Translations
article
used as an alternative to a possessive pronoun before body parts

Etymology 2

From Middle English the, thy, thi, from Old English þȳ (“by that, after that, whereby”), originally the instrumental case of the demonstratives sē (masculine) and þæt (neuter). Cognate with Dutch des te ("the, the more"), German desto ("the, all the more"), Norwegian fordi ("because"), Icelandic því (“the; because”), Faroese tí, Swedish ty.

Adverb

the (not comparable)

  1. With a comparative or more and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives.
    The hotter the better.
    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.
  2. 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 the wiser for it.
    I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that.
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also
See also

Anagrams

Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *sa.

Article

the

  1. the
    • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:
      omnibus vero dictionibus praeponebat articulum tho aut the
      [he/she] placed the article tho or the before every word

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.

Danish

Noun

the c

  1. Alternative spelling of te (“tea”)
    • 2016, Thorkild Hansen, Genklang: Rejser og portrætter 1959-89, Gyldendal A/S →ISBN
      Vi vågnede ved 6tiden og lavede dejlig the.
      We got up at about 6 AM and made lovely tea.
    • 2015, Lotte Heise, Tina Bryld, Selvfølgelig skal hun bo hos mig: om at bo med sin handicappede mor, Gyldendal A/S →ISBN
      Hun smiler over hele femøren, da duften af te breder sig: ”Uha, dejlig the.”
      She smiles broadly, as the scent of tea spreads: ”Oh, lovely tea.”

Declension
Declension of the
common
gender		 Singular
indefinite definite
nominative the theen
genitive thes theens

Eastern Arrernte

Pronoun

the

  1. I (first person singular pronoun)

References

Interlingua

Pronunciation

Noun

the (plural thes)

  1. tea

Irish

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [hɛ]

Adjective

the

  1. Lenited form of te.

Mutation
Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
te the dte
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Middle English

Etymology 1

Article

the

  1. Alternative form of þe

Etymology 2

Pronoun

the

  1. Alternative form of þe

References

Etymology 3

Pronoun

the

  1. Alternative form of þei

References

Etymology 4

From Old English þēon.

Verb

the

  1. Alternative form of theen

Murrinh-Patha

Noun

the

  1. ear

See also
  • ye (incorporated noun)

References
  • 2003, Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages.

Old High German

Alternative forms

Particle

the (indeclinable, relative)

  1. that, who, which

References
  1. Braune, Wilhelm. Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, zusammengestellt und mit Glossar versehen

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *sa. The original s- was replaced by th- by analogy with the other forms, but still preserved in the variant sē.

Determiner

thē

  1. that, that one
    them uuīha uuīsa lēstean: To obey that holy wise.

Declension
Declension of thē
Singular Plural
Masculine Neuter Feminine
nominative the that thiu thia
accusative thana that thia thia
genitive thes thes thera thero
dative themu themu theru them
instrumental thiu


Descendants
  • Low German: de

Scots

Determiner

the

  1. the

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from English the, which sounds similar to Serbo-Croatian da.

Conjunction

the (no known Cyrillic variant)

  1. (Internet slang) Alternative spelling of da
    neki kreten the ih drka emotivno
    some jerk to fuck with them emotionally
    the ovo okačim na fb wall, garant ne bih opstala od borKINJa za ženska prava
    if I posted this on my FB wall, I surely wouldn't survive the women rights fighters

Swedish

Noun

the n

  1. Alternative spelling of te (tea)

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 紗 (SV: sa).

Noun

the

  1. a kind of silk gauze
Derived terms
Derived terms
  • buồng the
  • phòng the

Etymology 2

Adjective

the (𦂛, 𫄋) (phonemic reduplicative the the)

  1. having a strong and fragrant smell

Welsh

Noun

the

  1. Aspirate mutation of te.

Mutation
Welsh mutation
radicalsoftnasalaspirate
te de nhe the
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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