Articles with names of places
Moscow but the Volga, Lake Baikal but the Black Sea, the British Museum, Red Square: when a name of a place takes the.
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At A2 you saw the main rule: most names have no article, but rivers, seas, oceans and groups of mountains or islands take the. This page adds more kinds of places: countries, regions, buildings, streets and squares, and names with of. The choice is not always logical, so it helps to learn names in groups.
Countries, cities and regions
Most countries, cities, continents and regions have no article. Names with a word like republic, kingdom, states or union, and plural names, take the.
No article | The |
|---|---|
Russia, France, Japan | the UK, the USA, the Czech Republic |
Moscow, Kazan, London | the Netherlands, the Philippines |
Europe, Asia, Siberia, Scotland | the United Arab Emirates |
- Moscow is the capital of Russia.
- My sister lives in the Netherlands.
- Incorrect: The Moscow is a very big city.
- Correct: Moscow is a very big city.Names of cities have no article.
For parts of a country, the north of England takes the, but northern England doesn't. The same goes for the south of France and southern France.
Water: the Volga, but Lake Baikal
Rivers, seas, oceans and canals take the. Lakes have no article when the word Lake comes first.
- Kazan is on the Volga.
- We spent a week by the Black Sea.
- The Pacific is the largest ocean.
- They have a house by Lake Baikal.
- Incorrect: Nizhny Novgorod stands where Oka meets Volga.
- Correct: Nizhny Novgorod stands where the Oka meets the Volga.Names of rivers take the.
In British English, the River Thames and the River Volga are also common. The stays.
Mountains and islands
A single mountain usually has no article; a range of mountains takes the. One island usually has no article; a group of islands takes the.
- Elbrus is higher than Mont Blanc. Have you climbed Mount Elbrus?
- We went skiing in the Alps. The Urals divide Europe and Asia.
- They spent the summer on Crete. Next year they want to visit the Canary Islands.
Streets, squares, parks, stations
Streets, squares, parks, bridges, stations and airports usually have no article.
- We walked across Red Square to the Kremlin.
- Our hotel is on Oxford Street, near Hyde Park.
- The train leaves from King's Cross. We fly from Heathrow.
- Incorrect: We met in the Red Square.
- Correct: We met in Red Square.Squares usually have no article.
Next to Red Square, the Kremlin has the, because it is a building (see below). In Britain many towns have the High Street.
Buildings: hotels, theatres, museums
Hotels, theatres, cinemas, museums and galleries usually take the.
- the Ritz, the Savoy
- the Bolshoi Theatre, the National Theatre
- the British Museum, the Hermitage, the National Gallery
A name with 's, or a shop, church, airport or university with the name of a person or a place first, usually has no article: St Paul's Cathedral, Harrods, Gatwick Airport, Oxford University. Museums, galleries and theatres keep the even then: the Pushkin Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery.
Names with of
When a name has of in it, it usually takes the.
- the Tower of London, the Bank of England
- the University of Manchester (but Manchester University)
- the Gulf of Finland
Hospital, prison, university
Like school and bed at A2, a few places have no article when we mean what people usually do there: in hospital (as a patient), in prison (as a prisoner), at university (as a student), at church (for a service). When we mean the building, we use the.
- My grandfather is in hospital with a broken leg.
- I went to the hospital to visit him.
- Their son is at university in Edinburgh.
American English usually says in the hospital for a patient too.