How do you say "the" in japanese?


I kept seeing the word sono その but apperently it means "this". does anyone
know what "the" is?




Have you ever heard an English language learner complain that the usage of the
definite article, _the_ , was hard and confusing? That might be in part
because it _does not exist_ in their native language.

That's the case in Japanese: the articles "the" and "a" do not exist. In order
for you to think about a sentence in those terms, you would have to deduce the
article _from context_.

I found a little example
[here](https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/definite-indefinite-
articles.html):

> Definiteness of Nouns  
>  In Japanese, the definiteness and plurality of a noun is **implicit**. That
> means you can't tell without context if a noun is singular or plural, or if
> it's definite or indefinite. A single Japanese noun can be translated in
> five different ways. For example:
>
>   * neko 猫  
>  Cat.  
>  A cat.  
>  The cat.  
>  Cats.  
>  The cats..
>

That's not to say you can't specify. You can, for example, use [the
demonstratives](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/35836/why-when-
should-i-use-the-different-forms-of-this-and-that) この・その・あの: このほん (this book).
However, just because you can doesn't mean you _have to_. If it's clear from
context, then it's not necessary.

I couldn't quickly find a post regarding the Japanese language specifically,
but here are some related readings on the matter (Linguistics SE):

  * [Do some languages have articles besides the definite and indefinite articles?](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/16/do-some-languages-have-articles-besides-the-definite-and-indefinite-articles)
  * [Does Japanese have determiners?](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/85/does-japanese-have-determiners)




Have you ever heard an English language learner complain that the usage of the
definite article, _the_ , was hard and confusing? That might be in part
because it _does not exist_ in their native language.

That's the case in Japanese: the articles "the" and "a" do not exist. In order
for you to think about a sentence in those terms, you would have to deduce the
article _from context_.

I found a little example
[here](https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/definite-indefinite-
articles.html):

> Definiteness of Nouns  
>  In Japanese, the definiteness and plurality of a noun is **implicit**. That
> means you can't tell without context if a noun is singular or plural, or if
> it's definite or indefinite. A single Japanese noun can be translated in
> five different ways. For example:
>
>   * neko 猫  
>  Cat.  
>  A cat.  
>  The cat.  
>  Cats.  
>  The cats..
>

That's not to say you can't specify. You can, for example, use [the
demonstratives](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/35836/why-when-
should-i-use-the-different-forms-of-this-and-that) この・その・あの: このほん (this book).
However, just because you can doesn't mean you _have to_. If it's clear from
context, then it's not necessary.

I couldn't quickly find a post regarding the Japanese language specifically,
but here are some related readings on the matter (Linguistics SE):

  * [Do some languages have articles besides the definite and indefinite articles?](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/16/do-some-languages-have-articles-besides-the-definite-and-indefinite-articles)
  * [Does Japanese have determiners?](https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/85/does-japanese-have-determiners)

