Pronunciation of H

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1. Lesson 1

14 questions

2. Lesson 2

14 questions

3. Lesson 3

12 questions

Explanation

Quick Answer

Although the letter his typically not pronounced in Spanish, there are three ways that you may hear the h pronounced (or not!):

In most cases, the letter h is not pronounced in Spanish, for example in hermana(sister).

The letter h is pronounced roughly like the English h of ham in only a few foreign words used in Spanish, such as hámster(hamster).

The letter group chhas its own pronunciation in Spanish, which sounds just like the ch in the English word church. You can hear the Spanish ch in the word ancho(wide).

The Silent “H,” or la “H” Muda

Saying that a letter is silent means that it is not pronounced. For example, the pronunciation of the Spanish word almohada(pillow) may be transcribed /almoáða/. As you can see, the letter h doesn’t represent any sound, or phoneme, so linguists say it’s silent, or mudain Spanish.

This is the case for most of the Spanish words that contain the letter h. Some examples of words with a silent h include: haber(have, auxiliary verb), hola(hello), ahora(now), enhorabuena(congratulations), or eh(hey).

So, If It's Silent, Why Is It Used?

The presence of the letter h in Spanish words is mostly due to their origin, or etymology (etimología). Many of these h words come from Latin words that were already written with an h or are derived from other languages, such as Greek. For example, the word hoy(today) derives from the Latin hodie.

How Do I Know When to Use It?

The fact that h is silent in Spanish makes it hard to predict when a word is written with or without it. Here’s a table with a few tips that will help you spot words that are spelled with an h:

Tip	Spanish	English	Exceptions
Before vowel groups ua, ue, ui	náhuatl, hueso, huir	Nahuatl, bone, escape	---
Before vowel groups ia, ie	hiato, hielo, enhiesto	hiatus, ice, upright	---
Words beginning hum- + vowel	humano, húmedo, humilde, humor, humus	human, damp, humble, humor, humus	---
Words beginning herm-, hist-	hermoso, historia	beautiful, history	ermita(chapel), ermitaño(hermit), istmo(isthmus)
Words beginning hog-, holg-, horm-, horr-, hosp-	hoguera, holgado, hormiga, horror, hospital	bonfire, loose-fitting, ant, horror, hospital	ogro(ogre)
Words beginning with the prefixes hemi- (half), hepat- (liver), hetero- (different), hexa- (six)	hemisferio, hepatitis, heterosexual, hexágono	hemisphere, hepatitis, heterosexual, hexagon	---
Words beginning with the prefixes hidr- (water), hiper- (extreme, extremely), hipo- (low, under), homo- (same)	hidráulico, hipertensión, hipotermia, homosexualidad	hydraulic, high blood pressure, hypothermia, homosexuality	---

Please note that the letter group ch, also called chein Spanish, has its own pronunciation, which is practically identical to the English ch in the words church or exchange. Examples of the pronunciation of ch in Spanish include: chica(girl), hacha(ax), ancho(wide), and sándwich(sandwich).

The Aspirated “H,” or la “H” Aspirada

A number of Spanish words that have been taken directly from a foreign language, or loanwords (préstamos), keep the aspirated sound of the letter h that is used in their language of origin. When they are assimilated into Spanish, they undergo little or no adaptation to the Spanish spelling system.

Remember that aspiration is the sound of air being exhaled after certain letters.

This pronunciation is achieved by expelling the air straight from the throat with some force. It sounds approximately like the h of the English words ham or her, and it’s also very close to the sound of the Spanish letter j in jamónor the letter g in gente.

Some examples of loanwords that contain an h that must be pronounced include: hall(foyer), taken from English, dírham(dirham), from Arabic, hámster(hamster), from German, or haiku(haiku), from Japanese.

Although many of these loanwords stay somewhat close to their original pronunciation, others are quickly transformed and adapted to the Spanish spelling system. That happened, for example, to words imported from the U.S. such as jonrón(home run) or jaibol(highball).

Examples

Let’s look at some examples of words containing the silent and aspirated letter h in different word positions and letter combinations.

Spanish	English	Type	Position-Combination
hamburguesa	burger	silent	beginning of word + vowel
hermano	brother	silent	beginning of word + vowel
hígado	liver	silent	beginning of word + vowel
hoyo	hole	silent	beginning of word + vowel
huelga	strike	silent	beginning of word + vowel
ahí	there	silent	inside word + between vowels
búho	owl	silent	inside word + between vowels
adhesivo	sticky	silent	inside word, after consonant
alhaja	jewel	silent	inside word, after consonant
anhelar	long for	silent	inside word, after consonant
deshacer	undo	silent	inside word, after consonant
ah	ah	silent	end of word
hockey	hockey	aspirated	beginning of word
hawaiano	Hawaiian	aspirated	beginning of word

The Letter “H” in Spanish-Speaking Countries

The silent h, or its aspirated pronunciation in a few loanwords, is a phenomenon that varies little throughout the Spanish-speaking world. There shouldn’t be much difference between the way the word hispanohablante(Spanish speaker) sounds in Los Ángeles, Cali, or Seville.