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Session 38

Have you ever wondered when to use 'the' to talk about places? Watch Georgina explain in this English In A Minute.

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    Activity 1
  1. Activity 1

Activity 1

When to use 'the' to talk about places

Let Georgina teach you when to use 'the' to talk about places in this English In A Minute.

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Learn how to talk about where you live

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Watch the video and complete the activity

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Georgina

Today, we look at geographic features, and why some don't use any article, and others use the definite article the.

Usually, we don’t use the with names. That’s why we don’t need to use the before the names of:

Lakes:
I live near Lake Como.

Mountains:
I visited Mont Blanc last year.

Cities:
I went to Tokyo last summer.

Islands:
I really want to go to Cuba.

Continents:
Asia is a huge continent.

We also don’t use the with the names of most countries.

I love Spain.

However, for countries which are plural nouns, we need to use the.

I flew to the Netherlands.

And for countries which contain words like 'states', ‘kingdom’ or ‘republic’, we use the.

I visited the United States last year.

I live in the United Kingdom.

You know what, I'd love to visit the US again. Bye!

When to use 'the' to talk about places

Normally, we don’t need to use the before the names of:

Lakes, mountains, cities, islands and continents.

  • I have lived in Belo Horizonte.
  • I want to climb K2. 

We also don’t use the with the names of most countries.

  • I went to Brazil last year.

However, for countries which are plural nouns, we need to use the.

  • I went to the Netherlands.

For the official titles of countries that contain words like 'states', ‘kingdom’ or ‘republic’, we use the.

  • I live in the United Kingdom.

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