The

The [T͟Hē,T͟Hə]
Definite Article
== Origin ==
#German: Der, Die, Das
#Dutch: De, Dat
#Old English: Se, Seo, Thæt
#Northumbrian: Thē
#Then: The
== Meanings ==
#Used to indicate a person or thing that has already been mentioned or seen or is clearly understood from the situation.
#Used to refer to things or people that are common in daily life.
#Used to refer to things that occur in nature.
#Used as a function word to indicate that a following noun or noun equivalent is definite or has been previously specified by context or by circumstance
##Used as a function word to indicate that a following noun or noun equivalent is a unique or a particular member of its class.
##Used as a function word before nouns that designate natural phenomena or points of the compass.
##Used as a function word before a noun denoting time to indicate reference to what is present or immediate or is under consideration.
##Used as a function word before names of some parts of the body or of the clothing as an equivalent of a possessive adjective.
##Used as a function word before the name of a branch of human endeavor or proficiency.
##Used as a function word in prepositional phrases to indicate that the noun in the phrase serves as a basis for computation.
##Used as a function word before a proper name.
##Used as a function word before a proper name to indicate the distinctive characteristics of a person or thing.
##Used as a function word before the plural form of a surname to indicate all the members of a family.
##Used as a function word before the plural form of a numeral that is a multiple of ten to denote a particular decade of a century or of a person's life.
##Used as a function word before the name of a commodity or any familiar appurtenance of daily life to indicate reference to the individual thing, part, or supply thought of as at hand.
##Used as a function word to designate one of a class as the best, most typical, best known, or most worth singling out.
##Sometimes used before a personal name to denote the most prominent bearer of that name.
#Used as a function word with a noun modified by an adjective or by an attributive noun to limit the application of the modified noun to that specified by the adjective or by the attributive noun.
##Used as a function word before an absolute adjective or an ordinal number.
##Used as a function word before a noun to limit its application to that specified by a succeeding element in the sentence.
##Used as a function word after a person's name to indicate a characteristic trait or notorious activity specified by the succeeding noun.
#Used as a function word before a singular noun to indicate that the noun is to be understood generically.
##Used as a function word before a singular substantivized adjective to indicate an abstract idea.
##Used as a function word before a noun or a substantivized adjective to indicate reference to a group as a whole.
#Than before; than otherwise.
##To what extent.
##To that extent.
##Beyond all others.
#Sense of.
#God; GOD.
#Denoting one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge.
##Used to refer to a person, place, or thing that is unique.
##[Informal] Denoting a disease or affliction.
##The present; the current.
##[Informational] Used instead of a possessive to refer to someone with whom the speaker or person addressed is associated.
##Used with a surname to refer to a family or married couple.
##Used before the surname of the chief of a Scottish or Irish clan.
#Used to point forward to a following qualifying or defining clause or phrase.
##Used after a name to qualify it.
#Used to make a generalized reference to something rather than identifying a particular instance.
##Used with a singular noun to indicate that it represents a whole species or class.
##Used with an adjective to refer to those people who are of the type described.
##Used with an adjective to refer to something of the class or quality described.
##Used with the name of a unit to state a rate.
#Enough of.
#Used to indicate that someone or something is the best known or most important of that name or type.
#Used adverbially with comparatives to indicate how one amount or degree of something varies in relation to another.
##Used to emphasize the amount or degree to which something is affected.
== Examples ==
#Put the cat out.
#The President.
#The Lord.
#The night is cold.
#In the future.
#How's the arm today.
#The law.
#Sold by the dozen.
#The Mayflower.
#The John Doe that we know wouldn't lie.
#The Johnsons.
#Life in the twenties.
#Talked on the telephone.
#This is the life.
#The pill.
#The right answer.
#Peter the Great.
#Nothing but the best.
#Due on the first.
#The poet Wordsworth.
#The days of our youth.
#Didn't have the time to write.
#Jack the Ripper.
#The dog is a domestic animal.
#An essay on the sublime.
#The elite.
#None the wiser for attending.
#The sooner the better.
#The sooner the better.
#Likes this the best.
#A dollar the dozen.
#The-ism.
#The-ocentric.
#What's the matter?
#The Queen.
#I've got the flu.
#Dish of the day.
#I'm meeting the boss.
#The Johnsons were not wealthy.
#The O'Donoghue.
#The fuss that he made of her.
#George the Sixth.
#He taught himself to play the violin.
#They placed the African elephant on their endangered list.
#The unemployed.
#They are trying to accomplish the impossible.
#They can do 120 miles to the gallon.
#He hoped to publish monthly, if only he could find the money.
#He was the hot young piano prospect in jazz.
#The more she thought about it, the more devastating it became.
#Commodities made all the more desirable by their rarity.
Category:Definite Articles
Category:T