# Were You taught the rule to correctly pronounce The (Thee and Thuh)? Do you use  it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-taught-the-rule-to-correctly-pronounce-the-thee-and-thuh-do-you-use-it/799359>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 20, 2017, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-taught-the-rule-to-correctly-pronounce-the-thee-and-thuh-do-you-use-it/799359 "2017-10-20T11:00:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-taught-the-rule-to-correctly-pronounce-the-thee-and-thuh-do-you-use-it/799359/101 "2017-10-28T02:05:40Z")

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> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I often hear people consistently pronounce “the” as thee regardless of the sentence context. I make a point to correct my relative’s children and teach them the simple rule. I’m not sure why grade school teachers aren’t correcting this error in the classroom? It’s often obvivous that the same children haven’t been taught to correctly use “a” and “an”. These simple concepts were rigorously taught in my early school years. I attended first through third grade in Massachusetts and 4th grade - college in Arkansas. Misusing “a” and “an” would often cost points on papers submitted in school.
> 
> I’m especially curious if non-native speakers are taught these rules in their English classes?

Were you taught 'the rule" that the u that comes after a Q is pronounced?😕

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