How to pronounce the?

Kategóriák:

Pronunciation & spelling/Kiejtés és helyesírás

2017-06-22

How to pronounce the?

Normally, we pronounce the with a short sound [ðə] But when the comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as [ði].

vowel sound	write	say
a	the apple	[ði] apple
e	the egg	[ði] egg
i	the ice-cream	[ði] ice-cream
o	the orange	[ði] orange
u	the ugly fruit	[ði] ugly fruit

It is the sound that matters, not the letter used in writing a word. So we use a long [ði] before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel.

we write	with	we say	because
the house	consonant h	[ðə] house	consonant sound

the hour	consonant h	[ði] our	vowel sound
the university	vowel u	[ðə] youniversity	consonant sound

the umbrella	vowel u	[ði] umbrella	vowel sound

Emphatic the [ði] When we wish to place emphasis on a particular word, we can use “emphatic the” [ði], whether or not the word begins with a consonant or vowel sound. For example:

A: I saw the [ðə] President yesterday.
B: What! The [ði] President of the United States?
A: Yes, exactly!