Contents

• 1 English
  • 1.1 Alternative forms
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Etymology 1
    • 1.3.1 Article
      • 1.3.1.1 Quotations
      • 1.3.1.2 Usage notes
      • 1.3.1.3 Derived terms
      • 1.3.1.4 Translations
  • 1.4 Etymology 2
    • 1.4.1 Adverb
      • 1.4.1.1 Translations
  • 1.5 See also
  • 1.6 Anagrams
• 2 Danish
  • 2.1 Noun
• 3 Irish
  • 3.1 Pronunciation
  • 3.2 Adjective
• 4 Murrinh-Patha
  • 4.1 Noun
  • 4.2 See also
  • 4.3 References
• 5 Swedish
  • 5.1 Noun

The word the is 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 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:
• The Netherlands
• The Bahamas
• The Solomon Islands
• The Maldives
• The Seychelles
• The Yemen (can also be used without an article)
  • Names of countries containing specifications like kingdom, republic etc are used with the:
• The United States
• The United Kingdom
• The United Arab Emirates
• The Czech Republic
• 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 National Museum of Natural History, The British Museums)
• Most English-language newspapers (The New York Times, The Guardian, The Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal)

• 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)

• nevertheless
• nonetheless
• the heck

• the hell
• the man
• the one

• Afrikaans: die
• Albanian: -a sq(sq), -i sq(sq)
• Amuzgo: i' sg., eⁿ' pl.
• Arabic: الـ ar(ar) (al-) (written together with the following words, "l" assimilates with "sun letters")
• Aragonese: o m., a f., os m. pl., as f. pl.
• Armenian: -ը hy(hy) (-ë), (before vowels) -ն hy(hy) (-n)
• Basque: -a eu(eu) f. and m., and n., -ak eu(eu) pl.
• Breton: al (before L), an (before D, N, T, silent H, and vowels), ar (before other consonants)
• Bulgarian: (attached suffixes are used, -ът, -та, -то, etc.)
• Burmese: not used
• Catalan: el ca(ca) m., lo ca(ca) m., es ca(ca) m., so ca(ca) m., la ca(ca) f., sa ca(ca) f., els ca(ca) m. pl., es ca(ca) m. pl., sos ca(ca) m. pl., ets ca(ca) m. pl., les ca(ca) f. pl., ses ca(ca) m. and f. pl.
• Chinese: not used
• Cornish:

  Kernewek Kemmyn: an

• Czech: not used
• Danish: (before noun) -en da(da) c., -et da(da) n., -ne da(da); (before adjective) den da(da) c., det da(da) n., de da(da)
• Dutch: de nl(nl) m. and f. pl., het nl(nl) n.
• Esperanto: la eo(eo)
• Estonian: not used
• Finnish: not used
• French: le fr(fr) m., la fr(fr) f., les fr(fr)
• Georgian: not used
• German: der de(de) m., die de(de) f., das de(de) n., die de(de) pl., ...
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὁ (ho) m., ἡ (he) f., τό (tó) n.; οἱ (hoi) m. pl., αἱ (hai) f. pl., τά (tá) n. pl.

  Modern: ο el(el) (o) m., η el(el) (i) f., το el(el) (to) n.; οι el(el) (oi) m. and f. pl., τα el(el) (ta) n. pl.

• Hawaiian: ka, ke sg.; nā pl.
• Hebrew: ‏ה- he(he) (ha-) (written together with the following words)
• Hindi: not used
• Hungarian: a hu(hu) (before consonant), az hu(hu) (before vowel)
• Icelandic: -inn is(is) m., -in is(is) f., -ið is(is) (-id) n., -nir is(is) m. pl., -nar is(is) f. pl., -in is(is) n. pl.
• Ido: la io(io)
• Indonesian: si id(id), sang id(id), itu id(id)
• Interlingua: le

• Irish: an ga(ga) sg., na ga(ga) pl.
• Italian: il it(it) m., lo it(it) m., la it(it) f., i it(it) m. pl., gli it(it) m. pl., le it(it) f. pl.
• Japanese: not used, but often translated into その ja(ja) (sono)
• Khmer: not used
• Korean: not used
• Kölsch: dä m., die f., dat n.
• Lao: not used
• Latin: not used
• Lithuanian: not used
• Macedonian: see Appendix:Macedonian articles
• Maltese: l- mt(mt), il- mt(mt), iċ- mt(mt), id- mt(mt), in- mt(mt), ir- mt(mt), is- mt(mt), ix- mt(mt), iz- mt(mt), iż- mt(mt)
• Maori: te mi(mi) sg., nga mi(mi) pl.
• Nahuatl: in nah(nah)
• Norwegian: -en no(no) m. and c., -a no(no) f., -et no(no) n., -ene no(no) m., f., and c. pl., -a no(no) n. pl., -ene no(no) n. pl.
• Novial: li
• Old English: se ang(ang) m., sēo ang(ang) f., þæt ang(ang) n.
• Persian: not used
• Polish: not used
• Portuguese: o pt(pt) m., a pt(pt) f., os pt(pt) m. pl., as pt(pt) f. pl.
• Romanian: -ul ro(ro) m. and n., -a ro(ro) f., -i ro(ro) m. pl., -le ro(ro) f. and n. pl., cel ro(ro) m., cea ro(ro) f., cele ro(ro) pl.
• Russian: not used
• Samoan: le sm(sm) sg., e sm(sm) pl.
• Scottish Gaelic: an gd(gd), am gd(gd), a' gd(gd), pl. na gd(gd)
• Sicilian: lu m., la f.; li m, f plural
• Spanish: el es(es) m., la es(es) f., los es(es) m. pl., las es(es) f. pl., lo es(es) n.
• Swedish: den sv(sv) m., f., and c., det sv(sv) n., de sv(sv), -n sv(sv), -en sv(sv), -t sv(sv), -et sv(sv), -en sv(sv), -na sv(sv), -a sv(sv)
• Thai: not used
• Tongan: te
• Turkish: not used
• Ukrainian: not used
• Urdu: not used
• Vietnamese: not used
• Welsh: y cy(cy), yr cy(cy), ’r cy(cy)
• West Frisian: de f,m and pl., 'e f and m, it n., 't n.
• Yiddish: דער m. (der), די f. (di), דאָס n. (das)

• Dutch: de nl(nl) m. and f. pl., het nl(nl) n.
• Estonian: see et(et), need et(et) pl.
• Finnish: se fi(fi), ne fi(fi) pl.
• French: le fr(fr) m., la fr(fr) f., les fr(fr)
• German: der de(de) m., die de(de) f., das de(de) n., die de(de) pl.

• Greek: ο el(el) (o) m., η el(el) (i) f., το el(el) (to) n.; οι el(el) (oi) m. and f. pl., τα el(el) (ta) n. pl.
• Japanese: その ja(ja)
• Portuguese: o pt(pt), a pt(pt), os pt(pt), as pt(pt) ([+ superl.])
• Spanish: el! es(es) m.
• Swedish: den sv(sv) c., det sv(sv) n., de sv(sv) pl.

• Dutch: de nl(nl) m. and f. pl., het nl(nl) n.
• Estonian: not used
• Finnish: not used
• French: les fr(fr)
• Greek: ο el(el) (o) m., η el(el) (i) f., το el(el) (to) n.; οι el(el) (oi) m. and f. pl., τα el(el) (ta) n. pl.
• Hungarian: a hu(hu) (before consonant), az hu(hu) (before vowel)

• Italian: i it(it) m. pl., gli it(it) m. pl., le it(it) f. pl.
• Japanese: not used
• Macedonian: -те mk(mk) (-te) pl.
• Portuguese: o pt(pt) m., a pt(pt) f., os pt(pt) m. pl., as pt(pt) f. pl.
• Spanish: los es(es) m. pl., las es(es) f. pl.
• Swedish: den c., det, n., de pl.

• Dutch: het nl(nl) m., f., and n. pl.
• Estonian: not used
• Finnish: not used
• French: le fr(fr) m., la fr(fr) f., les fr(fr)
• German: der de(de) m., die de(de) f., das de(de) n., die de(de) pl.

• Greek: ο el(el) (o) m., η el(el) (i) f., το el(el) (to) n.; οι el(el) (oi) m. and f. pl., τα el(el) (ta) n. pl.
• Italian: il it(it) m., lo it(it) m., la it(it) f.; i it(it) m. pl., gli it(it) m. pl., le it(it) f. pl.
• Japanese: not used
• Spanish: el es(es) m., la es(es) f., los es(es) m. pl., las es(es) f. pl., lo es(es) n.
• Swedish: den sv(sv) c., det sv(sv) n., de sv(sv) pl. (not always needed)

• Dutch: de nl(nl) m. and f. pl., het nl(nl) n.
• Finnish: -ni fi(fi), -si fi(fi), -nsa fi(fi), -nsä fi(fi), -mme fi(fi), -nne fi(fi)
• French: le fr(fr) m., la fr(fr) f., les fr(fr)
• Greek: στον el(el) (ston) m., στην el(el) (stin) f. / στη el(el) (sti) f., στο el(el) (sto) n.; στους el(el) (stous) m. pl., στις el(el) (stis) f. pl., στα el(el) (sta) n. pl.
• Italian: il it(it) m., lo it(it) m., la it(it) f., i it(it) m. pl., gli it(it) m. pl., le it(it) f. pl.

• Japanese: not used
• Macedonian: -ов mk(mk) (-ov) m., -ва mk(mk) (-va) f., -во mk(mk) (-vo) n.
• Spanish: el es(es) m., la es(es) f., los es(es) m. pl., las es(es) f. pl.
• Swedish: den sv(sv) m., f., and c., det sv(sv) n., de sv(sv), -n sv(sv), -en sv(sv), -t sv(sv), -et sv(sv); -en sv(sv), -na sv(sv), -a sv(sv)

• Dutch: de nl(nl) m. and f. pl., het nl(nl) n.
• Estonian: not used
• Finnish: not used
• French: le fr(fr) m., la fr(fr) f., les fr(fr)
• German: der de(de) m., die de(de) f., das de(de) n., die de(de) pl.
• Greek: ο el(el) (o) m., η el(el) (i) f., το el(el) (to) n.; οι el(el) (oi) m. and f. pl., τα el(el) (ta) n. pl.

• Italian: il it(it) m., lo it(it) m., la it(it) f., i it(it) m. pl., gli it(it) m. pl., le it(it) f. pl.
• Japanese: not used, though something+と いう もの is often used.
• Macedonian: -от mk(mk) (-ot) m., -та mk(mk) (-ta) f., -то mk(mk) (-to) n.
• Spanish: el es(es) m., la es(es) f., los es(es) m. pl., las es(es) f. pl.
• Swedish: -n c., -en c., n. pl., -t n., -et n., -na c. pl., -a c. pl.

• Arabic: كلما كان... كان... ar(ar) (kúllama kaana... kaana ...) (example: كلما كان أرخص كان أفضل (kúllama kaana 'árkhaS kaana 'áfDal) the cheaper the better) (used with a verb in the past tense, "kaana" or others)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (the adjectives are in a dictionary form) 越……越…… cmn(cmn) (yuè...yuè...) (example: 越热越好 yuè rè yuè hǎo "the hotter the better"), 愈……愈…… cmn(cmn) (yù...yù...)

• Czech: čím + comp., tím + comp.
• Dutch: hoe + comp., hoe + comp.
• Esperanto: ju eo(eo) + comp., des eo(eo) + comp.
• Finnish: mitä + comp., + sitä + comp.

• French: le + comp., + le + comp.
• German: je + comp., + desto + comp.
• Icelandic: því + comp., + því + comp.
• Japanese: (conditional -reba + dictionary form + hodo + adjective 2) ……れば…… 程良い ja(ja) (...reba...hodo ii) (example: 暑ければ暑い 程 良い atsukereba atsui hodo ii "the hotter the better")
• Polish: im + comp., + tym + comp.
• Portuguese: a + comp., o + comp., as + comp., os + comp.
• Russian: чем + comp., тем + comp.
• Swedish: ju + comp., + desto + comp.
• Thai: ยิ่ง th(th)(yîng) + comp

• Old English: þȳ ang(ang)

• Slovene: čem/tem

• a
• an
• (slang) da

• (slang) de
• t’
• that

• this
• Wikipedia article on grammatical articles