The

[Highlander]

Without googling how would you pronounce the "the" in the following examples

The boat

The mountain

The otter

The sea

The eagle

The beach

The stag

the islands

[loz]

Bit early in the day for the bottle H   


Having just shown Gordon your post he says he wouldn't. 

[bewva]

I would use thee (if you know what I mean) for any of them where the 2nd word starts with a vowel.
I would use the (short pronunciation) for the words beginning with a consonanat.

[Bluwise]

Ditto Bewva

[GordonA]

Hang on a minute until I find some size 00 fishing hooks to stick through each of my eyeballs, you are really quite mad, you know 'H', but we love you really !!   

[Diverbaz 1]

All "the" except last one which would be "thee".

[Scunner]

I am another in agreement with bewva

[stoop]

As a Yorkshireman they all get the 'the' treatment from me.

Thee would be for those with too much time on their hands  

[Scunner]

And of course in Yorkshire "thee" means "you".

[Lotty]

This is spooky, I was just explaining to my little grandson only yesterday when he reading his homework book aloud that it's pronounced thee before a vowel and hard the for others.