The use of the article the is different in English and in Portuguese.

Let me show you some really useful rules for using the article the correctly.

1. We don’t usually use the with people’s names and with countries, continents, regions, states, provinces, islands, cities, towns and mountains.

Examples: Africa, Europe, South America, New York, California, Miami, Everest. (not the Africa, the Europe, etc.).

However, if we are talking about Republic, States, Kingdom or a group of islands, we use the.

The United States
The Soviet Republic
The United Kingdom
The Caribbean

2. When don’t use the with titles (Mr., Mrs., Doctor, etc.)

Mr. Smith came to my house this evening.

3. With Mount and Lake (+name) we don’t use the either.

I went to the lake with my boyfriend.
I went to Lake Superior with my boyfriend.

4. The is used with the names of oceans, seas, canals and rivers.

The Pacific (ocean)
The Red (sea)
The Nile (river)
The Suez (canal)

5. We also the when we talk about the plural names of people and places.

The Jacksons (the Jackson family)
The Netherlands
The Bahamas
The Alps

See you next time!