How to Pronounce “the” in English – “thee’ or “thuh”

The is a lot of confusion over the pronunciation of the definite article ‘the’ . Normally, we pronounce “the” with a short sound (like “thuh”). But if “the” comes before a vowel or a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long “thee”.

Note it is very important to understand that what we write is different from what we say, that’s why English is a strange language. It is the sound we produce that matters and not the letter or alphabet used in writing. So we use a long “thee” before a vowel or vowel sound. Look at words below :

Emphatic the [thee]

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

A: I went  the [thuh] United States last month on a vacation.
B: What! The [thee] United States?
A: Yes, exactly.