English pronunciation requires a lot of practice. It is because the words in English are not pronounced exactly the way they are written. Sometimes the words having the same spellings are pronounced differently. On the other hand the same word is also pronounced in different manner. This post is about that word only which is pronounced in three ways. A word which is pronounced in three ways is an article “THE”.
Check out the three ways to pronounce “The”.
1. The /ðə/
The is pronounced as ‘Thuh’ when it appears before a consonant sound. Just keep in mind that here I am talking about consonant sound not letter.
For example:
•The /ðə/ book
•The /ðə/ story
The /ðə/pen
The /ðə/ university
Here in the word university we have consonant sound by the letter ‘u’ therefore we will pronounce ‘The’ as ‘Thuh’.
2. The /ði/
The is pronounced as ‘Thi’ when it appears before a vowel sound…remember vowel sound not letter.
For example:
•The /ði/ apple
•The /ði/elephant
The /ði/ act
The /ði/ umbrella
Here in the word umbrella, we have vowel sound by the letter ‘u’, therefore we will pronounce ‘The’ as ‘Thi’ before umbrella.
3. The / ðiː/
The is pronounced as ‘Thee’ to emphasize something or to show that the person or thing referred to is famous or important.
For example:
•The / ðiː/ prime minister
•The / ðiː / most important fact
•The / ðiː /smartest person
- Correct Pronunciation of Animals’ Names
- Mispronounced Words with Silent Letter D
- 8 ways to pronounce the letter A
- Syllabification and rules with examples
- Mispronounced words in English for business
- 3 Ways and Rules to pronounce ‘The’
- Diphthong Sound /eɪ/ with Examples
- Short Vowel Sounds
- Syllable Structure in English
- Sibilant Sounds in English
- 5 Very Common Mispronounced Words
- Common Mispronounced words with almost similar spellings
- Three ways and rules to pronounce letter ‘S’
- Voiced and Voiceless Sounds in English
- Letter Y- A Vowel or Consonant
