the, pronunciation

Question

Hi! I got this from a dictionary

The

*Pronunciation:
1. Before consonants usually th'.

1. Before vowels usually th', sometime before vowels also th'; for emphasis before titles and names or to suggest uniqueness often 'th'\ *

However, when watching a SpanishDict video (http://my.spanishdict.com/learn/show/35) about food, I realized that the wordthe was always pronounced the same way, ommiting completely the rule that I got from the dictionary... What's happening'! the rule just doesn't matter? ¿Qué pasa? ¿no importa la regla? :D

Answer 1

Does somebody know other tricky words like these for English learners like me?

universe

university

euphemism

just to know when to vary "the" pronunciation.

You have the basic idea. It also works in the opposite direction, when a word starts with a consonant letter but a vowel sound, such as "the hour."

Answer 2

Sí, no importa la regla. Para mí, uno debe aprender la pronunciación por el sonido y no por reglas

¿Cómo que no importa la regla? Es una regla porque (1) le ayuda a la gente a recordar el uso correcto y (2) se observa todo el tiempo entre los hablantes del inglés estadounidense estándar.

I see the (THUH) tiger.

I see the (THEE) elephant.

I see the (THUH) unicorn. (porque "unicorn" 'empieza con el sonido de Y, la cual que no es vocal)

Si el vidéo no refleja la regla, es un error.

Does somebody know another tricky words like these for English learners like me?

universe
university
euphemism

just to know when varying "the" pronunciation.

Answer 3

Thanks a lot to everyone... I've been reading carefully each of your opinions and I've been learning a lot :D

Answer 4

Maybe I'm wrong, but who is going to read "The king" as "dee + king"? There is a tendency to read "the" as "dee" (more or less) when this article is somewhat separated from the word it precedes, and when the article is stressed, but I can't picture anyone saying a whole sentence with minor (or no) pauses, saying "dee" where they should say "the".

Answer 5

I'm pretty sure this was discussed on the forum before (although searching for 'the' isn't very effective in finding the thread),

Here it is, dear, in all its gory, er, glory.

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/show/5868/P15/

But again, I stress that it is standard English to vary the E sound in "the" depending on what follows. It is a rare linguistic rule that has no exceptions due to dialectical and educational differences, etc., but that doesn't mean that the rules have no meaning.

Answer 6

'The' with a long vowel or like 'thuh' is a personal preference and everyone does it different

Personal preference? In standard American English (and British English, too, as far as I am aware), "the" is pronounced [ð'] before a consonant sound and [ði] before a vowel sound or when used for emphasis. Of course, if you choose to pronounce "the" some other way, that would be a personal preference, but it wouldn't be standard English.

I'm pretty sure this was discussed on the forum before (although searching for 'the' isn't very effective in finding the thread), with the net result that what people actually say varies from region to region and person to person -- and the same person may say the same sentence differently depending on what he wants to emphasize.

It may be a rule . . . but I don't recall encountering it before the discussions on this forum.

Answer 7

'The' with a long vowel or like 'thuh' is a personal preference and everyone does it different

Personal preference? In standard American English (and British English, too, as far as I am aware), "the" is pronounced [ð'] before a consonant sound and [ði] before a vowel sound or when used for emphasis. Of course, if you choose to pronounce "the" some other way, that would be a personal preference, but it wouldn't be standard English.

Answer 8

'The' with a long vowel or like 'thuh' is a personal preference and everyone does it different, although I wish they would do it the(thuh) way I do it. It ususally changes with the word and how it sounds or with emphasis.

Answer 9

Sí, no importa la regla. Para mí, uno debe aprender la pronunciación por el sonido y no por reglas

¿Cómo que no importa la regla? Es una regla porque (1) le ayuda a la gente a recordar el uso correcto y (2) se observa todo el tiempo entre los hablantes del inglés estadounidense estándar.

I see the (THUH) tiger.
I see the (THEE) elephant.
I see the (THUH) unicorn. (porque "unicorn" empieza con el sonido de Y, la cual que no es vocal)

Si el vidéo no refleja la regla, es un error.

Answer 10

Ya'll get where I'm coming from.

Okay, let's get this straight once and for all! It's spelled y'all (a contraction of "you all") and it's plural! If we're going to use nonstandard English, for goodness sakes let's do it right!

(And yes, I get where you're coming from... darn it all! lol)

Answer 11

La regla que se suele dar es que "the" suena más o menos como "de" (tienes que escuchar la pronunciación original y evitar la española) excepto cuando la siguiente palabra comienza con sonido vocálico, en cuyo caso se pronuncia "di" (de nuevo, con la pronunciación inglesa y no la española).

Coincido con lo que dices pero como ya lo mencioné, en el video siempre se pronuncia "di" y ninguna vez "da" así que ahora dudo si los estadounidenses en su mayoría hacen esa diferencia en la pronunciación o no.
As qfreed already said, the video is misleading. Many people, when speaking in "didactic mode", tend to over-articulate and avoid "relaxed pronunciations". The pronunciation of words said contrastively or in isolation may differ from that of connected speech. You will notice that in the video the indefinite article ("a") is consistently pronounced to rhyme with "they", whereas, in normal (unstressed) speech we say "uh". Throughout the video, Paralee is speaking more slowly and emphatically than people normally do (and the same is true in the videos in the Spanish course).

Actually, it's fairly difficult to speak slowly and clearly and, at the same time, preserve the pronunciation of fast, connected speech.

Answer 12

Me di cuenta que Lazarus ya había contestado tu pregunta. hehe

Answer 13

la pronunciación "the", o "de" o "di" es intercambiable, depende de parte de región particular en EEUU. En cualquier caso, tu apuesta segura es usa la pronunciación "di" cuando te encontres la vocal("vowel" en inglés, a, o, i, e,u) de lo contrario usa "de".

No dudes en corregirme.

Answer 14

I never heard that rule until I was an adult... but it coincides with the way I (and most of my acquaintance) speak naturally. I live in the Southern USA. I did notice that in the video lessons, the teacher consistently pronounces the word "thee", and have wondered if it's a regional pronunciation.

Valerie,
I grew up in the South (and Texas-we Texans don't consider ourselves a part of any other region)
May I just say that no one is ever going give any credibility to a Southerner's viewpoints on grammar and especially pronunciation.
Ya'll get where I'm coming from.
It may have some to do with all the in-breeding. No, wait, that's in Appalachia where I live now.

Answer 15

Usualmente "the" se pronuncia "da" menos que quieres poner énfasis en las palabras que siguen el artículo(en este caso se pronuncia "di"). un ejemplo: "the president came to my party." Si quieres subrayar el hecho que EL presidente vino a mi fiesta debes pronunciar "the"="di"
I agree with your usage. I started to make a similar comment about emphasis or classification in my reply, but I think these are like the video usage. They are everyday, common usage situations that where we've learned to mimic to convey certain connotations. I don't think they spring from any grammar rule, just usage.