Level: beginner
The definite article the is the most frequent word in English.
We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the listener/reader knows exactly what we are referring to:
- because there is only one:
The Pope is visiting Russia.
The moon is very bright tonight.
Who is the president of France?
This is why we use the definite article with a superlative adjective:
He is the tallest boy in the class.
It is the oldest building in the town.
- because there is only one in that context:
We live in a small house next to the church. (= the church in our village)
Dad, can I borrow the car? (= the car that belongs to our family)
When we stayed at my grandmother’s house, we went to the beach every day. (= the beach near my grandmother’s house)
Look at the boy over there. (= the boy I am pointing at)
- because we have already mentioned it:
A young man got a nasty shock when he tried to rob a jewellery shop in Richmond. The man used a heavy hammer to smash the windows in the shop.
We also use the definite article:
- to say something about all the things referred to by a noun:
The wolf is not really a dangerous animal. (= Wolves are not really dangerous animals.)
The kangaroo is found only in Australia. (= Kangaroos are found only in Australia.)
The heart pumps blood around the body. (= Hearts pump blood around bodies.)
We use the definite article in this way to talk about musical instruments:
Joe plays the piano really well.
She is learning the guitar.
- to refer to a system or service:
How long does it take on the train?
I heard it on the radio.
You should tell the police.
- The definite article the 1
- The definite article the 2
- The definite article the 3
Level: intermediate
We can also use the definite article with adjectives like rich, poor, elderly and unemployed to talk about groups of people:
Life can be very hard for the poor.
I think the rich should pay more taxes.
She works for a group to help the elderly.
Level: beginner
The definite article with names
We do not normally use the definite article with names:
William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.
Paris is the capital of France.
Iran is in Asia.
But we do use the definite article with:
- countries whose names include words like kingdom, states or republic:
| the United Kingdom | the Kingdom of Bhutan |
| the United States | the People's Republic of China |
- countries which have plural nouns as their names:
| the Netherlands | the Philippines |
- geographical features, such as mountain ranges, groups of islands, rivers, seas, oceans and canals:
| the Himalayas | the Canaries | the Atlantic (Ocean) | the Amazon | the Panama Canal |
- newspapers:
| The Times | The Washington Post |
- well-known buildings or works of art:
| the Empire State Building | the Taj Mahal | the Mona Lisa |
- organisations:
| the United Nations | the Seamen's Union |
- hotels, pubs and restaurants:
| the Ritz | the Ritz Hotel | the King's Head | the Déjà Vu |
But note that we do not use the definite article if the name of the hotel or restaurant is the name of the owner:
| Brown's | Brown's Hotel | Morel's | Morel's Restaurant |
- families:
| the Obamas | the Jacksons |
- The definite article with names 1
- The definite article with names 2
- The definite article with names 3
- The definite article with names 4
Hello again bella9073,
It's common to use 'the' with shops and similar places. Depending on the context, it may mean that the speaker is talking about a specific shop or it may simply mean 'I'm going shopping'. Both of these conversations are possible, for example:
[both speakers understand which shop they are talking about]
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
How about the use of “the” in front of room names at school? Say, “in the English Room”? Or no need for the article there?
Hello Ja71na,
Yes, 'the' is used in this case too, for the same reason as 'the bathroom' that Peter explained above.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Salum Hilali,
Normally, these are without the definite article. But, you could say the airport (without naming it) if it's clear to the listener or reader which airport you mean. :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello cynthia,
We don't use 'rise' in the plural to talk about a single item (computers), so 1 and 4 are not correct.
Sentences 2 and 3 are both possible. We can use both the zero article with a plural noun and the definite article with a singular noun for general meaning:
In certain contexts the a difference can be important, but in your context you can use either form without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Gendeng,
'A second change' here has a similar meaning to 'another change'.
It's normal to say 'the first change' but then talk about 'a second change', 'a third change' etc. I can't explain a logical rule for this; it's simply the convention which has grown up through usage over time.
I think if we said 'the second change' it would imply that we were waiting for a particular change. In other words, we would know which player was going to be replaced and which player was going to come on. It would imply a known plan. A commentator might say this if, for example, a player is injured and his replacement is warming up, so they know that the change is coming and are just waiting for it to happen.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jembut,
The Cambridge Dictionary has a good general explanation of how to use 'at', 'in' and 'on' to speak about a place. When I talk about the website in general, I use 'on' ('There are lots of useful resources on LearnEnglish'), but I think it's also OK to say 'at'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Gendeng,
We can use the definite article in several ways. When you say 'the bus' it could mean a particular bus (Look - the bus is coming!) or it could have a general meaning and refer to the means of transportation (I prefer the bus to the train).
The context tells us if the meaning is general or specific here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Smiley1,
Both versions are correct, and commonly used :)
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Crokong,
A speaker says the shops when the listener knows which shops the speaker is referring to. In your example, the speaker may mean:
We can use the with singular or plural nouns.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Crokong,
Yes :) It should be an indefinite article, the first time you mention the shop.
If you mention the shop again later in the conversation, you can use the definite article (because, after the first mention, the listener now knows which shop you mean).
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Plokonyo,
That's generally the right meaning :) But I've added some information in another comment below about the difference in emphasis between the and this.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Plokonyo,
The noun restaurant needs to have an article. It could be:
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Plokonyo,
It's similar! If you say this, you are indicating this afternoon (not any other afternoon) and this day (not any other day) to the listener, with emphasis.
In the examples you mention, the speaker uses the. It identifies which afternoon/day the speaker means, but without the emphasis that this has. The first change of the afternoon must be the afternoon now/today, and word of the day must be today.
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kosoy007,
It depends on whether 'EU' and 'UK' are acting as noun phrases or as adjectives modifying another noun. For example, 'UK companies' means 'companies in the UK' or 'British companies': the word 'UK' tells us which companies and is acting as an adjective.
In contrast, in 'The UK will still be hoping that the EU issues an "equivalence" decision ...', 'the UK' means 'The United Kingdom' (i.e. the government of the UK) and 'the EU' refers to the government of the EU (in this case, 'issues' is a verb).
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kosoy007,
It's common to use abbreviations of organisations and states in this way:
You can use European as an adjective, of course, or say the European Union's single market, but I think the EU... is the most common choice in this context. It's really a matter of convention, however, not grammatical or lexis rules.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello IsabelEdwards,
You can say both, though in most situations 'end-of-year ceremony' is probably more common.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Hashemi_Ashka,
You can use the definite article before a noun with a possessive apostrophe. For example:
However, this does not change the normal rules of article use. If the word 'Oke' in your example is a name then no article would be used.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sourav Bhatia,
This is an example of using the definite article for general representation.
We can use the indefinite article, the definite article and the zero article with general meaning, but there are some differences.
a + singular countable noun
We can use this with general meaning when we are talking about something which defines the group. For example:
In other words, being an impressive sight is one of the characteristics of an elephant; if we saw an animal and it was not impressive then we could be fairly sure that it was not an elephant. We are talking about any elephant here - it is true of them all.
the + singular noun
We can use this with general meaning when we are talking about our image or concept of the noun. For example:
Here we are not talking about a real elephant, but rather the concept of 'elephant' in our heads. This is the reason for the use of 'the' in your example.
no article + plural countable noun or uncountable noun
we use this to talk about what is normal or typical of a type. It may or may not be true of all individuals but it is typical of most. For example:
Here we are talking about the average height of Swedes, not any particular person or concept.
The distinctions are subtle but sometimes can be important. For example, we can say with general meaning:
Whales are in danger of becoming extinct.
The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.
However, we cannot say:
A whale is in danger of becoming extinct.
This is because being in danger of becoming extinct may be true but it does not define the whale.
I hope that helps to clarify it for you. It is a complex area.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Royanabiyeva,
It's true that in the past, 'the' was often used with some of the other place names in your list, but as far as I know, the only one of the places where 'the' is used by most people these days is 'the Hague'. I expect you could find exceptions to what I've just said, however. I'd suggest you check an encyclopedia as an example of correct use.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi ahrene,
There are two possible meanings of the beach here.
Yes! It's also possible to say a beach here too in both your sentences, meaning 'any beach' and not a particular beach.
Does that make sense? There are a lot of options :)
We answer questions as soon as we can, but at busy times it may take us a little more time!
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kunthea,
Since 'the Obamas' refers to more than one person, the apostrophe should go after the 's': 'the Obamas' house'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kunthea,
I'm not familiar enough with 'Sok's' to be able to say for sure. It sounds a little odd to me, but it could well be correct.
I'd say that the sentence 'The vegetable is full of chemicals' falls under the category of saying something about all the things referred to by a noun that is mentioned above.
It's not wrong to say that, but 99% of the time, we say 'Vegetables' instead of 'The vegetable'. I can't think of a time I've ever used 'the' in that way. It's something you might hear in a very old documentary, but otherwise it's quite rare.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sourav Bhatia,
There is no definite article before education as it is an abstract noun.
The definite article is used before learning process and introduction as these are defined/specified nouns:
the learning process = the process of learning; it is a specific process
the introduction of computers = the introduction of a specific thing (computers)
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team