The Definition
the
See also thé, thè, thế, thể, and þe
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English
Wikipedia has an article on: The (disambiguation)Alternative forms
- ðe (obsolete), þe (obsolete), ẏe (obsolete), ẏe (archaic): variant spelling of the.
- ye (archaic), (colloquial) ('y' pronunciation is nonstandard in historical Middle English)
Pronunciation
- (stressed, prevocalic)
- (unstressed, preconsonantal)
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The word the is commonly pronounced /ðiː/ whenever it is pronounced as a distinct word, e.g.:
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. |
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Etymology 1
From Middle English, from Old English þē (“the, that”, demonstrative pronoun), a late variant of sē (“that, the”). Originally masculine nominative, in Middle English it superseded all previous Old English forms (sē, sēo, þæt, þā), from Proto-Germanic *sa (“that”), from Proto-Indo-European *só, *to-, *tód (“demonstrative pronoun”). Cognate with Dutch de, die (“the, that”), Low German de, dat (“the, that”), German der, die, das (“the, that”), Danish den (“the, that”), Swedish den (“the, that”), Icelandic það (“that”).
Article
the
- 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.
- 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!
- With a superlative, it and that superlative refer to one object. [from 9th c.]
- That apple pie was the best.
- Introducing a 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, p. 536:
- Stern and God-fearing, the Afrikaner takes his religion seriously.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 536:
- 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.
- Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is most usually of 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.
- 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.”)
- 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.
Quotations
- For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.
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.
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Derived terms
terms derived from the (determiner)Translations
article
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Etymology 2
From Middle English, 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 (“because”).
Adverb
the
- 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.
- 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 + ～comparative, the + comparative
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- 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 Help:How to check translations.
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See also
See also
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Statistics
Anagrams
Danish
Noun
the c.
Interlingua
Pronunciation
- IPA: /te/
Noun
the (plural thes)
Irish
Pronunciation
- IPA: [hɛ]
Adjective
the
- Mutated form of te.
Murrinh-Patha
Noun
the
See also
- ye (incorporated noun)
References
- 2003, Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages.
Old Saxon
Etymology
Replaced the original masculine and feminine nominative forms from Proto-Germanic *sa, by analogy with the adjective inflection. Compare also Old High German ther, der where the same process occurred.
Pronoun
thē m.
Determiner
thē m.
- that
- the
Descendants
- Low Saxon: de
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
From English the, from Proto-Slavic *da, probably old imperative of the word dȁti, itself from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”).
Conjunction
the (no known Cyrillic variant)
- (Internet slang, informal) in order to, to
- neki kreten the ih drka emotivno
- some jerk to fuck with them emotionally
- neki kreten the ih drka emotivno
- (Internet slang, informal) if
- the ovo okačim na fb wall, garant ne bih opstala od borKINJa za ženska prava
- if I posted this on FB wall, I surelly wouldn't survive from women rights fighters
- the ovo okačim na fb wall, garant ne bih opstala od borKINJa za ženska prava
Swedish
Noun
the n.
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