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So, you are studying your vocabulary diligently, including the el or il or le or der in front of some of the words. Many vocabulary lists that you find in textbooks include the definite article (the ‘the’). You may think that native speakers always include the ‘the’, but the real reason textbook publishers include the ‘the’ is to give you a heads up about the gender of nouns. English speakers sometimes have trouble associating gender with nouns. Some English nouns are masculine or feminine if they refer to people or animals (waiter or waitress, rooster or hen). Other nouns like book or car or phone just do not have gender in English. While there are rules to help you remember a noun’s gender, they can be hard to learn, hence the helpful hints.

That does not mean that you need to include the definite article with every noun. You might need an indefinite article (an ‘a’), or no article at all. I had a student who kept referring to THE Wendy. Another student said that she was THE woman.

Those definite articles are definitely handy, but look at examples or ask your instructor if you are not certain when to use them in a sentence.