日本語 – What is the in Japanese

1. Talking about something already mentioned or known
2. Referring to one specific thing, (the tree in front of my house)
3. Talking about things that are unique or there are only one of (the universe, the queen)
4. Used before adjectives to make nouns (the poor, the sick)
5. when stressing something to be the best or worthy of attention
6. Enough of something (I have the money to travel)

What does The mean in English

the word the does not mean just one thing. If we want to translate it to Japanese correctly we will first need to know what we are saying in English. Below are 6 ways that the can be used.

1. Talking about something already mentioned or known
2. Referring to one specific thing, (the tree in front of my house)
3. Talking about things that are unique or there are only one of (the universe, the queen)
4. Used before adjectives to make nouns (the poor, the sick)
5. When stressing something to be the best or worthy of attention
6. Enough of something (I have the money to travel)

https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/

Ignore The in these Situations

In the following situations just ignore the when you translate English to Japanese.

Unique Things, Places, People

Words such as the universe, the queen, the past, the future, etc. all represent one possible choice. in these situations, you would just ignore the and translate the noun.

宇宙うちゅう
the universe

過去かこ
the past

将来しょうらい
the future

The Best

Also, when you talk about things that are the best like the best day I have ever had, you are still talking about one unique thing. In these situations ignore the. 

人生じんせいで一番いちばんいい一日いちにち
The best day of my life

Referring to something in General terms

■　Going to the store or the beach
■　Listening to the radio
■　Walking down the street

These are all examples of nouns that there may be several choices but that distinction is not being made. Japanese would not make any distinction between listening to the radio or listening to a radio in in this situation.

When to add Extra Words

There are times when the can say something that requires Japanese to add new words.

Converting an Adjective to a Noun with The

In English, the is used before nouns. So, if you use the before an adjective that adjective becomes a noun.

■　the sick
■　the poor
■　the rich

These words refer to a group of people. In Japanese you need to add more words to make this obvious. Or, there may be separate words you can use.

病気びょうきの人ひと
the sick

貧困層ひんこん・富裕層ふゆうそう
the poor・the rich
(the poor class, the rich class)

Directions and Regions

In English you can say the east or the west when you want to talk about regions. So, if you want to talk about a direction in Japanese first think about specifically if you are referring to a region, or that general direction. Then, you would pick a word that fits best for the situations

東ひがし
east (general word)

東方とうほう
eastward, eastern direction

東部とうぶ
eastern part of (city, country,..)

東側ひがしがわ
east side of (train-station, building,..)

Enough

Look at the sentences below:

■　I have the money to pay
■　I don’t have the time to go

Both of these sentences can be changed to the following:

■　I have enough money to pay
■　I don’t have enough time to go

When translating to Japanese you could either ignore the the in these sentences, or use the word enough to be clear.

時間じかんがない
I don’t have the time

十分じゅうぶんな時間じかんがない
I don’t have enough time

The in Japanese, Referring to what is already Understood

This is the main situation that the is used in English.

If I randomly walked up to you and said, the bird just flew by.  you would be thinking, what bird?. By saying the bird this means you know which bird I am talking about so it does not make sense.

Instead, I should have said,  a bird just flew by. Here there is no confusion, I am referring to just some bird. In Japanese when talking about a bird you would say:

鳥とりが上うえを飛とんでいったよ
a bird just flew by
If the person asks you more about the bird, you would then say:

その鳥とりは黒くろかった
The bird was blackSo, you can use the Japanese Topic Particle は when talking about things that are already understood. Often this translates from Japanese to English as the. Depending on the situation you may use the word その which means that in Japanese.

Context is Everything in Japanese

the in Japanese does not exist but the concept does. If you want to speak Japanese well, then you need to get into the habit of thinking about if you have provided enough information to the listener for them to understand what you are talking about.

茶色ちゃいろい猫ねこは可愛かわい
 ねこはかわいい
the brown cat is cute
Yes, we know cats are cute. Also, depending on the context we maybe talking about cats in general, or comparing with some other cat. So, which cat are we referring to? Instead we could say:

いつも近所きんじょを歩あるき回まわっている猫ねこが二匹にひきいる。片方かたほうは茶色ちゃいろくて、もう片方かたほうはオレンジ色いろだ。昨日きのう偶然ぐうぜん茶色ちゃいろい方ほうを見みかけて、可愛かわいかった。
There are two cats that are always walking around my neighborhood. One is brown and one is orange. I saw the brown one yesterday, he was cute.

You don’t always have to be so specific, but it is important to explain so people understand you. So, when speaking Japanese if you do this you don’t need to worry about not having the word the in Japanese.

If you are interested in learning Japanese I have reviewed what I consider the best resource for Japanese Grammar below:

Resources

• Wikitionary
• Dictionary