How To Pronounce "the" in English

THEE and THUH Problem:

English is confusing. We don't often pronounce words the way they are written. One of the biggest mistakes I hear when people are reading out loud is that they say THEE when they should say THUH. If you read from a tele-prompter on TV, or you are reading from a written speech, you might make this mistake. I've heard many people make this error, even leading politicians who speak English as their first language!

There are some simple rules to help you pronounce it right. 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."

A - we write "the apple" - we say "thee apple"
E - we write "the egg" - we say "thee egg"
I - we write "the ice cube" - we say "thee ice cube"
O - we write "the orange" - we say "thee orange"
U - we write "the uncut bread" - we say "thee uncut bread"

Here's a tip: If you are reading out loud from a script, you might want to spell out the word "THEE" when you precede it with a word that begins with a vowel, to make sure you do not mispronounce the tricky "the."

Remember that what we SAY matters, not what we write. It's the SOUND that matters, not the letter.

When preceding a consonant, we say "thuh". But it gets tricky with consonants that have vowel sounds. So remember, if it sounds like a vowel.... say "thee" not "thuh". Here's some examples:

H - we write "the house" - we say "thuh house" (consonant sound)
H - we write "the hour" - we say "thee hour" (vowel sound "our")
U - we write "the university" - we say "thuh university" (consonant sound)
U - we write "the umbrella" - we say "thee umbrella" (vowel sound)

Now, once you learn that simple rule, remember to distinguish the right sound for "the."

There is one more use of the sound "thee". It's the emphatic the (thee). We use the sound "thee" when we want place emphasis on something.

Sam: I saw the (thuh) CEO yesterday.
Joe: You mean The (thee) CEO of our company?
Sam: Of course!

So be careful when you read out loud. Many people make this mistake, as it's often not one of those things that pointed out in school. It's one of those invisible rules of good pronounciation.