Articles

“The” can be preceded by the prepositions “of” or “to”, but in English there does not exist a contraction of the article with these prepositions, as in some other languages.

Examples:

 The days of the week…

 I am going to the garden.

We use “the” when we know who or what it is we are talking about. We use “the” to indicate something or someone in particular, as such it is called the definite article. We speak of something concrete, something that both the speaker and the receiver know of because it has been referenced earlier in the conversation or because it is something previously known to both.

What is the name of the restaurant?

Do you remember the day we went to New York?

Who is the president of the United States?

The doctor is very good.

We use the definite article with geological regions, mountain chains, seas, oceans, island groups, rivers and countries in plural.

Examples:

the United States

the Netherlands

the Andes

the Atlantic Ocean

the Canary Islands

the Nile River

 We use “the” to make reference to directions (right, left, top, bottom) or the cardinal points (north, south, east, west).



Examples:

 the south of France

 the house on the left

 the top of the page

With superlative adjectives and ordinal numbers we also use the definite article.



Examples:

 the tallest building

 the strongest man

 the first time

 the second floor

We do not use the definite article when we are speaking of something in general.

Examples:

 I like ice cream.

 Math is difficult.

We never use “the” when we are referring to television, meals, days of the week, months of the year, seasons, years or the hour.

Examples:

 I do not like to watch television [TV].

 I have an appointment on Monday.

 We eat breakfast at 9:00.

With institutions and modes of transportation, when we are speaking in general, we do not use the definite article.

Examples:

 We like school.

 I go to work by train.

 They go to church on Sundays.

“The” is not used with city names or places in general, although there are some exceptions as we saw in the previous section. In addition, we do not use the definite article with lakes or streets.

Examples:

 I went to Lake Titicaca.

 She lives on Flores Street.