Most single names take no article: France, Lake Como, Mount Everest, Oxford Street. Use the with plural names, names with Republic, Kingdom or States, and with rivers, seas, oceans, deserts and mountain ranges: the Netherlands, the UK, the Danube, the Alps.
We crossed the Alps into Italy.
A mountain range is a group of mountains seen together, so it takes the. A single mountain doesn't: Mont Blanc.
| Countries | No article: France, Romania, Japan. But: the Netherlands, the UK, the United States, the Philippines |
|---|---|
| Cities, streets, squares | No article: Cluj, Oxford Street, Times Square. Rare exceptions: the Hague |
| Continents | No article: Europe, Asia, Africa. But regions: the Middle East |
| Rivers, seas, oceans | The: the Danube, the Black Sea, the Atlantic |
| Mountains and lakes | Single: no article (Mount Everest, Lake Geneva). Ranges: the (the Alps, the Carpathians) |
| Islands | Single: no article (Sicily). Groups: the (the Canary Islands) |
| Deserts | The: the Sahara, the Gobi |
The Netherlands, the Alps, the Canary Islands
A name that refers to several parts (provinces, mountains, islands) takes the.
The Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, the European Union
Names built from an ordinary word like republic or kingdom take the.
The Danube flows into the Black Sea.
Lakes are the exception: Lake Geneva, Lake Balaton.
Mount Everest, Lake Como, Sicily, Spain
One mountain, one lake, one island, most countries and cities: no article.
Common expressions worth learning as they are.
Have you ever been to _____?
A, the or nothing: every rule on one page.
Paste an email or an essay. Clarigram marks the mistakes you actually make, shows the rule behind each one as a picture, and builds your practice from them.
The Netherlands is a plural name (literally 'the low lands'), and plural names take the. Most single country names don't.
No: Europe, Asia, Africa. But many regions do, especially with a direction: the Middle East, the Far East, the Balkans.
Yes. A few city names include the as part of the name, like the Hague. You just learn them.