How do I know which way to pronounce the word "the?" Sometimes I hear it pronounced "thee" and other times it's "thuh."

Answer 1

I prefer "thuh," when the next word begins with a consonant... "Thuh problem is that...whatever the problem is." If the following word begins with a vowel, I default to "thee," as in "Thee answer to this question has preoccupied historians for centuries." I'm a longtime lecturer, teacher and public speaker and nobody has ever questioned my pronunciation,

Answer 2

Both are correct at any time! However, how quickly someone is speaking is the biggest determining factor. It will almost always be "thuh" when people are speaking quickly because the distinct "e" in "thee" requires a harder attack phonetically.

Regional and cultural accents will also dictate people's unconsious phonetic choices. Sixty years ago high-class white people would have called "thuh" an example of "lazy mouth syndrome" that teachers and other adults of that social strata would try to drill out of their students. You'll still find this class marker around a little, but it's mostly faded.

Answer 3

In the General American English Accent,

When "the" is followed by a word starting with a vowel sound, "the" is pronounced as "thee." Some examples are "The (thee) old house..." "The (thee) angry man..." and "The (thee) East Coast."

When "the" is followed by a word starting with a consonant sound, "the" is pronounced as "thuh." Examples of this are "The (thuh) red house..." "The (thuh) first man..." and "The (thuh) West Coast."

One exception to this rule is when the speaker wishes to emphasize a point. For example, someone may say "This is THE (thee) WORST day of my life." "The" and "worst" would probably be stretched out and louder for added emphasis.