the

/ðə/ ES

/ðiː/ MX

#1 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

Used before a noun when the listener already knows which person or thing you mean.

Word origin

From Old English se and þe, the demonstrative that weakened into the single definite article 'the' as English lost its grammatical gender.

Please close door.

Shut the one particular door we both know about.

sun is very bright today.

There is only one sun, so we always say "the sun".

is best teacher school.

Out of all the teachers, this one is number one.

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Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

This word is part of lesson 1.