How to Use The - Articles in English Grammar Verwendung von The - Artikel in der englischen Grammatik How to Use The - Artículos de gramática inglesa Comment utiliser The - Articles in English Grammar Come usare The - Articoli di grammatica inglese The の使い方 - 英文法における冠詞 Hoe De te gebruiken - Artikelen in de Engelse Grammatica Jak używać The - artykuły w gramatyce angielskiej Como usar o The - Artigos de gramática inglesa Как использовать The - Статьи по английской грамматике The Nasıl Kullanılır - İngilizce Dilbilgisinde Makaleler Як вживати The - Статті з граматики англійської мови 如何使用 "The"--英语语法中的文章 如何使用 - 英語文法文章

Hi, I'm Justin.

Welcome to Oxford Online English! Oxford Online English-ə xoş gəlmisiniz!

In this lesson, you can learn about using the.

What language do you speak?

If your language has a word like the, then the isn't too difficult. Wenn es in Ihrer Sprache ein Wort wie the gibt, dann ist the nicht allzu schwierig.

There are some small differences, but you don't have to think about it too much. Es gibt ein paar kleine Unterschiede, aber man muss nicht allzu sehr darüber nachdenken.

However, if you speak a language which doesn't have a word like the, then learning how to Wenn Sie jedoch eine Sprache sprechen, in der es kein Wort wie das gibt, dann müssen Sie lernen, wie man

use the is a nightmare! Die Verwendung des ist ein Alptraum!

This lesson is made more for people whose native language doesn't have a word like

the, although we hope that speakers of all languages will find it helpful. Wir hoffen jedoch, dass Sprecher aller Sprachen sie hilfreich finden werden.

Learning about articles and the is the only grammar topic I've seen which regularly Lernen über Artikel und das ist das einzige Grammatikthema, das ich gesehen habe, das regelmäßig

makes students angry. macht die Schüler wütend.

Any time I have to teach someone about articles, I know they're going to go through an angry Jedes Mal, wenn ich jemandem etwas über Artikel beibringen muss, weiß ich, dass er eine wütende Reaktion zeigen wird.

stage.

Why is this?

It's because there are hundreds of rules about using the. Das liegt daran, dass es Hunderte von Regeln für die Verwendung des Internets gibt.

Every rule has exceptions (of course, it's English!) Jede Regel hat Ausnahmen (natürlich, es ist Englisch!)

Sometimes, the rules overlap and you don't know which one to use. Manchmal überschneiden sich die Regeln und man weiß nicht, welche man anwenden soll.

We're not going to try to cover all of the rules in this class. Wir werden in diesem Kurs nicht versuchen, alle Regeln zu behandeln.

If you really want a headache, you can find a grammar book and try to read and learn all Wenn Sie wirklich Kopfschmerzen haben wollen, können Sie sich ein Grammatikbuch besorgen und versuchen, alles zu lesen und zu lernen.

of them.

Instead of giving you rules which you can read in a grammar book, we're going to give

you some practical tips that we've used with students and which work. Hier finden Sie einige praktische Tipps, die wir mit Schülern ausprobiert haben und die funktionieren.

You'll see six tips and one simple technique you can use in your written English.

These tips and tricks are easy to remember and use; you won't need to study for hours

or memorise lots of complex rules.

Watch the video to the end, and you can start using these ideas today.

Let's start with a general question: what does the mean?

Have you ever thought about this? Haben Sie jemals darüber nachgedacht?

What does the mean?

What does it do?

If I say to you: Wenn ich zu dir sage:

Show me the book. Zeigen Sie mir das Buch.

What does the mean?

Why do I say the book and not a book?

The in this sentence shows that you—the listener—know which book I'm talking about. Das in diesem Satz zeigt, dass Sie - der Zuhörer - wissen, von welchem Buch ich spreche.

It shows that I'm talking about a specific book, and I know you know which one I mean. Es zeigt, dass ich von einem bestimmten Buch spreche, und ich weiß, dass Sie wissen, welches ich meine.

That's what the means: it shows that you're talking about something specific.

You can think of the as a ‘pointing' word, like this or that. Sie können sich das als ein "zeigendes" Wort vorstellen, wie dies oder das.

When you use the before a noun, you're ‘pointing' to a specific thing and saying, ‘that one'.

So that's the basic meaning of the.

Keep this in mind, because it's useful to remember these basic points if things get Behalten Sie dies im Hinterkopf, denn es ist nützlich, sich an diese grundlegenden Punkte zu erinnern, wenn die Dinge

confusing.

Let's see how you can use these ideas.

Let's start with some examples:

Can you open the window, please?

Is that the woman you were telling me about? Ist das die Frau, von der Sie mir erzählt haben?

The Taj Mahal is really worth going to see. Das Taj Mahal ist wirklich sehenswert.

When you look at these sentences, they look completely different, right? Wenn Sie sich diese Sätze ansehen, sehen sie ganz anders aus, oder?

But there is a connection.

Can you see the connection?

Think about why you use the in these sentences.

If I'm talking to you, in all of these three situations, you know which one I mean. Wenn ich mit Ihnen spreche, wissen Sie in jeder dieser drei Situationen, welche ich meine.

For example, if you say, Can you open the window, please, then we're in the same room,

and it will be obvious which window you mean.

Sure, there are many windows in the world, but if we're in the same room, then we know

which window you're talking about.

You can see the same idea in these sentences:

Where's the bathroom?

I'm going to the shop. Ich gehe in den Laden.

In both of these cases, we use the because it's obvious which one you mean.

If you're at someone's house, and you ask, Where's the bathroom, we know which

bathroom you mean: the bathroom in the house where you are/

If you say, I'm going to the shop, again you mean that whoever you're talking to

will understand which shop you mean.

Probably, you mean the local shop—one you go to often. Wahrscheinlich meinen Sie den Laden vor Ort, in den Sie oft gehen.

Let's look at our second sentence.

If I ask you, Is that the woman you were telling me about, you know who I mean. Wenn ich Sie frage: Ist das die Frau, von der Sie mir erzählt haben, dann wissen Sie, wen ich meine.

But here, the reason is different. Aber hier ist der Grund ein anderer.

You know who I mean because we were talking about her before.

You were telling me about her.

So, this is our second idea.

You can use the if the person you're talking to will remember which one you mean.

Here are a couple more examples of this:

What did you think of the film? Wie hat Ihnen der Film gefallen?

Do you remember the hotel we stayed at in Berlin? Erinnern Sie sich an das Hotel, in dem wir in Berlin wohnten?

In both of these examples, you're referring to some kind of shared experience. In diesen beiden Beispielen beziehen Sie sich auf eine Art gemeinsamer Erfahrung.

What did you think of the film?

--> Why do you use the?

Because you're either talking about a film we saw together, or a film we've talked

about before.

Either way, when you ask this, you use the because the person you're talking to will Wie auch immer, wenn Sie diese Frage stellen, verwenden Sie das, weil Ihr Gesprächspartner

know which film you mean.

Do you remember the hotel we stayed at in Berlin?

--> We both stayed at the same hotel, so you know which hotel I mean.

Okay, let's come back to our third original sentence. Okay, kommen wir zurück zu unserem dritten ursprünglichen Satz.

If you say, The Taj Mahal is really worth going to see, why do you use the? Wenn Sie sagen, dass das Taj Mahal wirklich sehenswert ist, warum benutzen Sie dann das?

It's because there's only one Taj Mahal.

We know which one you mean, because there's only one!

Let's see some more examples of this idea: Sehen wir uns einige weitere Beispiele für diese Idee an:

The moon is so beautiful tonight! Der Mond ist heute Nacht so schön!

It was the happiest day of my life. Es war der glücklichste Tag in meinem Leben.

In both of these examples, you use the because you're talking about one of something. In diesen beiden Beispielen verwenden Sie das, weil Sie über eines von etwas sprechen.

The person you're talking to will know which one you mean, because the thing you're talking Die Person, mit der Sie sprechen, wird wissen, welche Sie meinen, denn die Sache, über die Sie sprechen

about is unique.

The Earth only has one moon, so we say the moon. Die Erde hat nur einen Mond, also sagen wir der Mond.

You can have many happy days in your life, but only one can be the happiest, so you say Man kann viele glückliche Tage im Leben haben, aber nur einer kann der glücklichste sein, so sagt man

the happiest day of my life. der glücklichste Tag in meinem Leben.

So, you've seen three important ideas about using the in this section: Sie haben also in diesem Abschnitt drei wichtige Ideen zur Verwendung des gesehen:

Use the for things around you, where it's obvious which thing you mean. Verwenden Sie das für Dinge in Ihrer Umgebung, bei denen es offensichtlich ist, was Sie meinen.

Use the to refer to shared experiences—things you've talked about before or done together. Verwenden Sie das, um sich auf gemeinsame Erfahrungen zu beziehen - auf Dinge, über die Sie schon einmal gesprochen oder die Sie zusammen gemacht haben.

Use the when something is unique. Verwenden Sie das, wenn etwas einzigartig ist.

These are practical, general ideas which will help you to use the correctly in English.

Next, let's look at another simple rule that can help you.

Here's a good rule you can use, especially in your written English. Hier ist eine gute Regel, die Sie vor allem in Ihrem schriftlichen Englisch anwenden können.

If a noun is singular and countable, it needs some kind of determiner. Wenn ein Substantiv Singular und zählbar ist, benötigt es eine Art Determinativ.

A singular, countable noun can't stand by itself. Ein singuläres, zählbares Substantiv kann nicht für sich allein stehen.

Okay, this isn't specifically about using the, because a determiner could be something Okay, hier geht es nicht speziell um die Verwendung von "the", denn ein Determinator könnte etwas sein

else, maybe a or this or that, or something else.

But, it's often helpful if you're trying to decide whether to use the or not. Aber es ist oft hilfreich, wenn man versucht zu entscheiden, ob man das verwenden soll oder nicht.

Let's look at an example:

Manager told us more about plan for New Year's party. Der Manager erzählte uns mehr über die Pläne für die Neujahrsfeier.

Maybe you can already see that this sentence doesn't look right. Vielleicht können Sie schon sehen, dass dieser Satz nicht richtig aussieht.

Let's apply our rule. Wenden wir unsere Regel an.

Can you remember it?

If a noun is singular and countable, then it needs some kind of determiner, like the,

a, this, that, and so on.

So, look at our sentence.

How many nouns are there?

The first noun is manager.

Is this singular?

Yes.

Is it countable?

Let's see: one manager, two managers, three managers…

Yes, it's countable.

So, it needs a determiner.

It can't stand by itself.

Probably, whoever says this sentence knows which manager they're talking about. Wahrscheinlich weiß derjenige, der diesen Satz sagt, von welchem Manager er spricht.

That means we can use the.

What about plan?

Is it singular?

Is it countable?

Yes, and yes, so again, it can't stay like it is.

Here, we say that the manager told us more.

That means you already knew something about this plan.

That means you can use the.

You know which plan the manager is talking about.

What about New Year's party?

Is it singular?

Is it countable?

Yes, and yes.

So, you need something.

How many New Year's parties can there be each year?

I mean, technically, you could have more than one.

But generally, one company will just have one New Year's party.

If there's just one, then you know which one the manager's talking about.

So again, you can use the.

The manager told us more about the plan for the New Year's party.

Let's do one more example:

Government should do more to help elderly people. Die Regierung sollte mehr tun, um älteren Menschen zu helfen.

Think about this sentence.

Where are the nouns? Wo sind die Substantive?

Do they need determiners or articles?

Let's use our test.

The first noun is government.

Is it singular?

Yes.

Is it countable?

One government, two governments…

Yes, it is.

So it needs a determiner.

Should we use the, or something else?

There are many governments in the world, but whenever you talk about the government, you

mean ‘the government in your country.'

So, it's clear which government you mean.

That means you can use the: There's one more noun: elderly people.

Is it singular?

No.

So, it doesn't need a determiner.

It can stand by itself.

However, just because it doesn't need one doesn't mean it shouldn't have one. Aber nur weil sie keine braucht, heißt das nicht, dass sie keine haben sollte.

You still need to think: should you say the elderly people? Sie müssen noch überlegen: Sollen Sie die älteren Menschen ansprechen?

Here, you're talking about elderly people in general.

When you talk about things in general, you don't use the.

So the sentence is now correct.

The government should do more to help elderly people. Die Regierung sollte mehr tun, um älteren Menschen zu helfen.

The test that you've seen in this section isn't a magic spell. Der Test, den Sie in diesem Abschnitt gesehen haben, ist kein Zauberspruch.

You still need to think about where to use the or not.

However, it's simple and it does help.

Use this in your written English and you will make fewer mistakes with the. Wenden Sie dies in Ihrem schriftlichen Englisch an, und Sie werden weniger Fehler beim Schreiben machen.

Trust me—we've seen this work for many students.

Okay, so now you've seen some simple but important ideas to help you decide when to

use the.

But, part of using the correctly is knowing when not to use the. Aber zum richtigen Gebrauch des gehört auch, dass man weiß, wann man es nicht benutzen sollte.

So, let's talk about that!

We just mentioned one case where you shouldn't use the.

Do you remember?

Don't use the if you're talking about things in general.

For example:

Greek food is both healthy and tasty. Griechisches Essen ist sowohl gesund als auch schmackhaft.

--> You're talking about all Greek food, in general.

I hate shopping for clothes. Ich hasse es, Kleidung zu kaufen.

--> I hate shopping for all clothes, all the time.

I'm not talking about some specific clothes.

Football is more popular than basketball in most countries. Fußball ist in den meisten Ländern beliebter als Basketball.

--> Again, everything here is general.

You're talking about football in general, basketball in general, and countries in general.

Nothing is specific here.

So that's your first important rule.

Don't use the if you're talking about things in general.

This is a really solid rule.

It works well, so you should definitely remember it.

There's another useful point here: don't use the with most names.

When we say ‘names', we mean nouns that you'd write with a capital letter. Wenn wir von "Namen" sprechen, meinen wir Substantive, die man mit einem Großbuchstaben schreiben würde.

This works most of the time. In den meisten Fällen funktioniert das.

There are a lot of exceptions, but if you remember, ‘don't use the with names',

you'll be right more often than not. werden Sie meistens richtig liegen.

Obviously, if you know the detailed rules, then that's better. Natürlich ist es besser, wenn Sie die genauen Regeln kennen. Obviamente, se conhecer as regras pormenorizadas, então é melhor.

However, if you're in a situation where you don't know whether to use the or not,

then use this rule.

It works most of the time.

So, this means: don't use the with people's names: Das heißt also: Verwenden Sie das nicht mit den Namen der Leute:

I met Jamie. Ich habe Jamie getroffen.

Don't use the with names of cities or countries:

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden.

Don't use the with names of streets or other city features: Verwenden Sie nicht die Namen von Straßen oder anderen städtischen Einrichtungen:

Queen's Park is near Broad Street.

Don't use the with the names of schools, companies, universities or other institutions:

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft. Bill Gates brach sein Studium in Harvard ab, um Microsoft zu gründen.

I know what some of you are thinking…

What about The United States?

What about the Hilton? 希爾頓怎麼樣？

What about…?

Yes, of course there are exceptions.

There are exceptions to everything! Es gibt für alles Ausnahmen!

That's not the point.

Remember what we're trying to do here: this is a simple trick that you can carry in your Denken Sie daran, worum es hier geht: Dies ist ein einfacher Trick, den Sie in Ihrem

head and which is easy to use. Kopf und ist einfach zu bedienen.

It will work most of the time. In den meisten Fällen wird es funktionieren.

There's one more simple tip here: don't use the with another determiner.

Determiners include this, that, these, those, possessive adjectives like my, your, his,

or her as well as quantifiers like many, much, a lot of, each, every, and so on.

So you can't use the in examples like:

I like this one more than that one. Dieses gefällt mir besser als jenes.

Is this your bag or is it hers?

I want to spend lots of time with every person here. Ich möchte viel Zeit mit allen Menschen hier verbringen.

Okay, quick review:

- Don't use the if you're talking about things in general. - Verwenden Sie das nicht, wenn Sie über Dinge im Allgemeinen sprechen.

- Don't use the with most names (but remember there are many exceptions to this). - Verwenden Sie das nicht bei den meisten Namen (aber denken Sie daran, dass es viele Ausnahmen davon gibt).

- Don't use the with another determiner. - Verwenden Sie das nicht mit einem anderen Bestimmungswort.

From this lesson, you've got six rules: three rules about when to use the, and three

rules about when not to use the.

You also saw a simple test to check if a noun needs an article or not: is the noun singular?

Is it countable?

If yes and yes, it needs a determiner, possibly the.

If you find it difficult to use the correctly, take these six rules and this test, and try

using them.

We hope these tips are simple enough that you can remember them and start using them

right now.

If you do, you will use the more accurately, and you will make fewer mistakes.

Remember, these tips have helped many of our students, and they can help you, too!

Also, if you want more practice, check out the full version of this lesson on our website:

Oxford Online English dot com.

There's also a quiz to help you practice using the.

Thanks for watching!