the
Pronouncedthuh
articleUsed before a naming word when you are talking about something specific that you have already mentioned or that the other person knows about, as in 'I saw a dog. The dog was brown.'
articleUsed before a naming word when there is only one of that thing, as in 'the sun' or 'the moon'.
articleUsed before a naming word to talk about something you know or that is common, as in 'I went to the shop' or 'She plays the piano'.
articleUsed before a body part or family word instead of 'my' or 'his', as in 'She hurt the finger' or 'The mother came home'.
articleUsed before the biggest or most important one of something, as in 'This is the best cake' or 'He is the fastest runner'.
articleUsed before a naming word to mean all things of that kind, as in 'the tiger is an animal' (meaning all tigers).
"the" does not follow standard phonics patterns and should be memorized.
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: TH Digraph (Voiced)
Sound“th”·/ð/
TH can make a buzzy sound “th”, like in 'this' and 'the'. You can feel your throat vibrate!
The voiced TH “th” is the vibrating version. Put your hand on your throat — you can feel it buzz. This sound appears in very common words like 'the', 'this', 'that', 'they'.
Tip
Voiced TH buzzes — this, that, the!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Schwa
Sound“uh”·/ə/
In unstressed syllables, vowels often make a lazy 'uh' sound called schwa, like the A in 'about'.
Schwa “uh” is the most common vowel sound in English. Any vowel letter can make the schwa sound when it's in an unstressed syllable. It sounds like a quick, lazy 'uh'.
Tip
Schwa is lazy — any vowel can say 'uh' when it's not stressed!
Examples
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