Teaching articles is hard. Patterns are hard to find. At least one pattern is easy to teach. Why do we say “America” but “the United States”? The rule is:
Use the if the country’s name includes a common noun.
This rule works for almost every country (one important exception is “the Philippines”). Common nouns are nouns that can mean ordinary things beyond the name. In our examples, the common nouns are state and kingdom. We can say “California is a big state” or “The princess lived in a beautiful kingdom.”
Other country names to consider:
| the Central African Republic |
| the Marshall Islands |
| the Republic of Korea (but South Korea) |
| the Russian Federation (but Russia) |
| the Roman Empire (but Rome) |
Avoiding Offense
This rule can also help you avoid offending some people. We sometimes use the without a common noun when describing a geographic or cultural region. For example, the South, the Outback. If you use the with a country whose name does not include a common noun, it sounds like you consider the country to be just a region. For example, the name “Ukraine” is correct (it does not include a common noun). If you say, “theUkraine,” you imply that an entire nation is simply a geographic area, and Ukrainians may be offended.
I think perhaps the Philippines can be explained by the fact that the name was once considered to be the Philippine Islands.
It’s the Philippines because it’s official name is actually the Republic of the Philippines.
I always thought, inre: the Philippines, that the plurality was the explanation, just as with The Netherlands. We always seem to use “the” with any name that contains a plural “the United Arab Emirates”, “the Bahamas” etc. but not with singular names that don’t, as Mr.Zwier put it, contain a common noun.
Hi Evelyn–
Yes, the common noun “islands” is understood, so that’s the reason. If I had more space, I would have gotten into those unstated parts of names–as in “the Rockies,” “the Seychelles,” etc.
Indonesia is the islands country too…
but we can’t say the Indonesia
The roman empire was not a country -but I get the point.
The distinction is one of political versus physical geography
The title `the Republic of the Philippines’ is the political name of all the area owned by a political entity. The term `the Philippines’ is the physical geography term for a chain of islands. The title `the United States of America’ is a political geography term. The term `America’ is the physical geography term that is colloquially used for the area controlled by the former title. It most properly refers to all the area sometimes called `the Americas.’
The same rule then works with `the republic of Korea’ and South Korea.
Meaning drives grammar.
Two more reasons for when and why we use “the”.
1. If the name of the country ends in “s”, then we use “the”.
For example, The Philippines, The Netherlands.
2. If the words “union”, “republic”, or “united” are included in the name, then we use “the”.
)
For example, The (former) Soviet Union, The Dominican Republic, The United States.
Hope that helps!
I agree with Gillian; plurality is the explanation. The Netherlands is, strictly speaking, The Kingdom of the Netherlands, just like UAE is a collection of Emirates and the US is a collection of 50 states. Similarly, The Philippines, The Comores and the Seychelles, for example, are group of islands, etc. (whereas Madagascar, Portugal etc are individual islands).
can we say this,,
The pakistan is big country in asia…
Hi Haseen,
No. The name ‘Pakistan’ contains no common nouns. It’s “Pakistan is a big country in Asia”.
Hi everyone.
A couple of days ago, a colleague at work mentioned an interesting case: Burkina Faso. That name doesn’t have an article in English because it contains no common noun IN ENGLISH–even though the word “faso” is a common noun (“fatherland”) in the Dioula language. By the way, it can also be called “The Republic of Burkina” in English, with “the” because of the common noun “republic.” Just a general reminder: Our comments here should be respectful and constructive. Please, no comments that might insult ethnic/national groups or other people who post comments.