The definite article – 

the
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The definite article – the

The definite article the is the same for all genders in singular and in plural.

 the boy

 the girl

 the cat

 the computers

If the following word begins with a consonant, we speak [ðə], if the following word
begins with a vowel, we speak [ði:].

[ðə] [ði:]

the following word starts with a

the following word starts with a
spoken vowel
spoken consonant

the English girl
the girl
the orange book
the book
the old school
the school

Compare the following words:

Here [j] is pronounced at the beginning of Here [ʌ] is pronounced at the beginning of
the word → the unit the word → the uncle

We have listed some examples in the following table. There you can see when we
use the definite article and when we don't.

without the definite article with the definite article – the

 without the definite article with the definite article – the

names of persons on the singular,

relatives
family names in the plural
Peter and John live in
London. The Smiths live in Chicago.
Aunt Mary lives in Los
Angeles.

public buildings, institutions,

means of transport (indefinite) public buildings, institutions, means of transport
(definite)
Mandy doesn't like school.
The school that Mandy goes to is old.
We go to school by bus.
The bus to Dresden leaves at 7.40.
Some people go to church
The round church in Klingenthal is famous.
on Sundays.

names of countries in the singular,

summits of mountains, continents, names of countries in the plural, mountain ranges,
towns regions

Germany the United States of America

France the Netherlands
Mount Whitney the Highlands
Mount McKinley the Rocky Mountains
Africa the Alps
Europe the Middle East
Cairo the west of Australia
New York

single islands groups of islands

Corfu the Bahamas

Bermuda the British Isles

 without the definite article with the definite article – the

Sicily the Canaries

names with of-phrase, names in plural, well-known

buildings, oceans, seas, rivers, musical instruments,
newspapers

the Statue of Liberty

parks, lakes, streets the Tower (of London)

the Great Lakes
Central Park
the Empire State Building
Hyde Park
the Isle of Wight
Lake Michigan
the Atlantic (Ocean)
Loch Ness
the Mediterranean (Sea)
42nd Street
the Nile
Oxford Street
the Rhine

the Suez Canal

the piano

the Times

months, days of the week

(indefinite) months, days of the week (definite)

The weekend is over on I always remember the Monday when I had an

Monday morning. accident.
July and August are the The August of 2001 was hot and dry.
most popular months for holidays.

We use the seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn, winter) with or without the
definite article.

 in summer
 in the summer
 The American English word fall is always used with the definite article the.

Sometimes we use the article and sometimes we do not. It often depends on the
context. Watch the following example:

1. The student goes to school.

2. The mother is going to the school.

In the first sentence we do not use the definite article, in the second we do. The
student goes to school for its primary purpose, so we do not use the article.

The mother might talk to a teacher, for example. She visits the school for a different
reason. That's why we use the definite article the in the second sentence.

Thanks to Erik.