Job Discussion Forums

[FGT]

When is "the" pronounced to rhyme with "tea" and when not?
I've got an idea it's to do with a vowel sound following or not.
A colleague is convinced it's because of stress, as in "he didn't rob THE bank, he robbed A bank".

Ideas? Suggestions? Corrections? All gratefully received.

[august03]

I always say THE rhyming with DUH, regardless of the sentence, I'm also an Aussie. What about 'A' do you say 'ay' or 'ah'. He robbed A bank?? Do you say 'ay' when A is stressed?

[PatS]

The (pronounced to ryhme with "duh") Merriam Webster Dictionary on my desk says that the is pronounced with the schwa sound, unless the word following begins with a vowel, when it would usually be sounded with the long e sound. But I agree with your friend, emphasis would also require the use of the long e sound.

With the word a, you may use either pronunciation (schwa or long a)
before words beginning in a consonant. And yes, I think one would use the long a (ay) sound if you were stressing the word.

The above reflects American English pronunciation. Dunno what you other folks do!

[ChicagoCubMike]

In addition to PatS' answer, I'd note there is also a trend here in the States, or at least here in the Midwest (I'm in Chicago) for people to use the 'schwa' pronunciation of the regardless of whether followed by a vowel (e.g. "thuh end", "thuh earing", "thuh ostrich", etc., with a glottal stop in between the two words). I suppose some folks think it makes their speech sound less fussy. I admit I do it myself now that I've lived in Chicago for a year.

But being from New York, I always hate myself for it

[naturegirl321]

like duh except when I stress it, so then it ryhmes with tea, thee.

[Aramas]

[khmerhit]

The End

Yours Hopefully,
El Khmer Heet

[Stephen Jones]

The with the long 'ee' sound before a vowel sound or when stressed.

With a schwa at all other times.

That's standard British pronounciation.

[Capergirl]

I always try to encourage students to use the long e sound before (most) vowels. I tell them that if the word would be preceded by an, the the should be pronounced "thee". It really makes a difference in the flow of the language. Using the schwa sound all the time makes one's English sound very choppy, IMO.

I once had a disagreement with a Taiwanese co-teacher about this very topic. She insisted that an should be pronouned un and that the should always be pronounced thuh (schwa sound). It didn't matter what I said because her little dictionary contradicted me every time. You should have heard her students trying to read a text. They were almost incomprehensible.

[Capergirl]

[Shaman]

[Aramas]

Good point. How many other silent 'h's are there? Some dialects silence the 'h' in hotel and herb, but that makes my skin crawl.

There's hour, honest and honour, but I can't think of any others off the top of my head. I guess the an/thee thing works.

[khmerhit]

Thuh End.
Thuh Last One.
Period.
Finito.
Finished.
Kaputt.
No more.
Gone for a Burton.
Done like Dinner.
Pffftt.

Yours Hopefully,
Thuh khmer Heet

[Ben Round de Bloc]

Where I come from (upper-midwest USA,) the "h" in hotel is pronounced, but the "h" in herb is silent while the "h" in herbivore is pronounced. Pronouncing the "h" in herb sounds strange to me. I suspect that's because when I was a child, my elementary teachers scolded anyone who pronounced herb with an "h" unless the word referred to the name Herb, short for Herbert.

A strange thing there is that everyone says a history lesson, but they're divided on saying a historic event and an historic event.

Granted, I haven't spent much time in that part of the world during the past 10 years, but that's how I remember it.

[Hogbear]