Sambhram instituti

How to Pronounce the
Normally, we pronounce the with a short sound (like "thuh"). But when the comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee".

It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters, not what we write. It is the sound that matters, not the letter used in writing a word. So we use a long "thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Look at these cases:

Emphatic the [thee]
When we wish to place emphasis on a particular word, we can use "emphatic the" [thee], whether or not the word begins with a consonant or vowel sound. For example:
A: I saw the [thuh] President yesterday.
B: What! The [thee] President of the United States?
A: Yes, exactly!
Think of the sky at night. In the sky we see MILLIONS of stars and ONE moon. So normally we would say:

• 
  I saw a star last night.
  
• 
  I saw the moon last night.
  

L ook at some more examples:

Of course, often we can use a/an or the for the same word. It depends on the situation, not the word. Look at these examples:

• 
  We want to buy an umbrella. (Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)
  
• 
  It's raining! Where is the umbrella? (We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our umbrella, a particular umbrella.)
  

This little story should help us understand the difference between a/an and the:
A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street. The woman saw a dress that she liked in a shop. She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her. He said: "Do you think the shop will accept a cheque? I don't have a credit card."