I see a lot of instances that the is preceded next/prevous but I do not see a clear pattern e.g. next year vs the next year. I need some guidelines for this. I know that the refer to the word after next/previous. I think when you use next/previous you know the current thing and so the next/previous thing should refer to a concrete instance of the noun so the should be use always.
Answer
Using or not using the article results in a very clear difference in meaning.
Next year: The year after the current one at the time the phrase is spoken.
This was a good reunion. Let's all meet again next year.
The next year: The year after some other reference point than the present.
That year there was a good harvest, but the next year there was a drought.
If you plant a mature rosebush in a given summer, you'll see flowers by the next year.
"Next year" isn't used with any other tense or time than the present, and "the next year" is only used for tenses and times other than the present.
Of course, the reference point and the time of speech could be in the same year.
You said you planted a rosebush a few months back because you wanted roses next year.
Also, you have more variability with "the next year". For example, it could become "the following year" or "the year after that".
By the way, the article has the same effect with "last year" and "the previous year", even though this time word changes (you can't say "previous year" on its own and "the last year" means "the final year").
Last year: The year before the current one at the time the phrase is spoken.
That's funny. Lots more people came to our reunion last year.
The previous year: The year before some other reference point than the present.
That year there was a drought, but the previous year there had been a good harvest.
You'll be more likely to see fruit on your cherry tree if you've sprayed it well the previous year.
Like "the next year", the phrase "the previous year" is also more open to different wordings, such as "the year before that".
Finally, this pattern also works for "week" and "month" (though not all speakers might accept "next month" on its own).
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