What part of speech is the word the?

Answer 1

The word "the" in English is an article (sometimes called a determiner), the definite article.

• The definite article indicates that the noun that follows is a specific person or thing.
  

The indefinite articles are "a" and "an", used to indicate that the noun that follows is not a specific person or thing.

• The article "a" is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound;
  
• The article "an" is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound.
  

Example uses:
I met the author of the book at a book signing. (a specific author)
I met the author of the book at a book signing. (a specific book)
I met the author of the book at a book signing. (a book signing not specified)
I met the author of the book at the book signing at Bookmart last month. (a specific book signing)

"The" is pronounced "thuh," except when it comes before a word that begins with a vowel, when it is pronounced "thee," as in the egg, the apple. Thuh egg, and thuh apple are incorrect.

Answer 2

Huh. This is a difficult question you asked there. Literature studies have shown that there is not a part of speech for the word "the", so the mystery behind the word "the" remains a secret.

-QueenGrammarBee

Answer 3

it is an article

Answer 4

Article