the

the [ weak ðə, ði, strong ði ] determiner ***

The is used as the definite article before a noun.

1. ) => NOTE used when you are referring to a particular thing or person that has already been mentioned or is already known about:

Have you locked the door?

I have to take care of the children.

A nurse brought me some bread and coffee, but the bread was stale and the coffee tasted like soap.

a ) used when it is obvious which one you are referring to because there is only one:

the U.S. president

I'll meet you outside the main entrance.

The sun was hidden behind a cloud.

b ) used when you are referring to familiar things that people deal with regularly:

I looked up at the ceiling.

Suddenly all the lights went out.

a place to shelter from the wind and the rain

2. ) => NOTE used before a singular noun when making a general statement about people or things of a particular type:

People have come to depend on the automobile as their only means of transportation.

The average university student is not very interested in politics.

3. ) used when referring to a part of a particular thing:

Take the top of the piece of paper and fold it so that it is even with the bottom.

a ) used when referring to parts of the body:

He has a gunshot wound in the neck.

4. ) used before dates or periods of time:

the 4th of July

The next day he flew back to Paris.

the 1930s/the eighties etc.: popular music of the 1960s

5. ) used when explaining which person or thing you are referring to:

Who was the actor who played Romeo?

We live in the house with green shutters.

We will be interviewing Peter Carey, the author.

6. ) used before a noun that refers to an action, especially when it is followed by of :

the destruction of a whole city

the death of Queen Victoria

the burning of several houses

7. ) => NOTE used before the names of oceans, rivers, deserts, or groups of mountains:

the Pacific Ocean

the Mississippi

the Sahara

the Alps

a ) used before the names of large public buildings:

the Town Hall

the Science Museum

8. ) used before an adjective to form a noun when you are referring to the type of thing described by the adjective:

the impossible/supernatural/unthinkable etc.: Are we attempting to achieve the impossible?

a belief in the supernatural

9. ) used before SUPERLATIVE adjectives and words such as first, second, next, and last :

the best hotel in Paris

It was the first time I'd ever met a real live movie star.

10. ) => NOTE used before an adjective to form a plural noun when you are referring to people of a particular type or people from a particular country:

the rich/poor/young/unemployed etc.: a policy of taxing the rich to help the poor

the French/British/Japanese etc.: The Japanese eat a lot of seafood.

1

a ) used before a plural name when you are referring to members of a particular family:

She's been living with the Wilsons for nearly three months.

11. ) usually in negatives used when saying whether there is enough of something for a particular purpose:

He didn't have the strength to go on fighting.

I'd like to start my own business that's what I'd do if I had the money.

12. ) used when you are saying what type of musical instrument someone plays:

Lorna started playing the violin when she was only seven years old.

13. ) / ði / used when a particular person, thing, or place that you are referring to is the famous one, or is the best or most fashionable:

The man's name was Alfred Hitchcock. Not the Alfred Hitchcock?

For night-life, Juan-les-Pins is definitely the place.

14. ) => NOTE used before the name of a dish when ordering food, especially in an expensive restaurant:

I'd like the salmon, please.

the...the...

used with more, less, and other COMPARATIVES for showing that when an amount, activity, feeling, or quality increases or is reduced, it causes something else to increase or be reduced at the same time:

The more people who help, the better.

The sooner we finish, the happier I'll be.