Using articles with country names seems difficult. But really it is not. There 3 clear rules that I can give you to help you know when you should use articles with country names.
Rule 1: we use ‘The’ if the county’s name includes a common noun.
For example, the United States of America has the common noun ‘States’ in its name, so we need to use ‘The’.
Here is another example: The Islamic Republic of Iran contains the common noun ‘Republic’, so we need to use ‘The’.
Below is a list of some more common country names that have common nouns and use the article ‘The’:
The Central African Republic
The Republic of Korea (South Korea)
The Russian Federation (Russia)
The Roman Empire (Rome)
Rule 2:‘the’ is used before any country name if the name contains ‘of’.
Here is the structure: The ___ of ___.
Look below at these examples:
(Countries with ‘of’)
The United States of America
The Republic of China
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
The Islamic Republic of Iran
Rule 3: we use ‘The’ if the country is an island country.
Look below at these examples:
(Island nations)
The Maldives
The Marshall Islands
The Philippine Islands (The Philippines)
Here is the summary:
Rule 1 is that we use ‘The’ if the county’s name includes a common noun.
Rule 2 is ‘The’ is used before any country name if the name contains ‘of’.
Rule 3 says we use ‘The’ if the country is an island country.
To learn more about Articles view our most recent blogs:
How to Use Articles in English1
How to Use Articlesin English2
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ByLuke
ETO American English teacher
