One of the most frequent English pronunciation mistakes is not saying the ‘H’ sound. There are two most important rules for the ‘H’ sound – and the four words where the ‘H’ is silent.
A Video Summary about the ‘h’ sound
A few explanations about the 'h' sound
HOW TO MAKE THE 'H' SOUND:
‘H’ pronunciation – you make the h sound with the tongue low in your mouth and the lips apart and the vocal folds approximating to create a hiss-like breath.
This is a voiceless sound. This is how you pronounce the letter ‘h’.
THE SILENT 'H':
In the English language ‘H’ is sounded (unlike in French or Spanish), apart from these words where it is silent:
|
Honour Hour Honest Heir |
You also don’t say it after ‘G’ in:
|
Ghost Ghastly Aghast Gherkin Ghetto |
or after ‘R’ in:
|
Rhinoceros Rhubarb Rhyme Rhythm |
It’s normally silent after ‘W’:
|
What? Which? Where? When? Why? |
Finally, we don’t always say it after ‘Ex’:
|
Exhilarating Exhausting |
IS IT ‘HAITCH’ OR ‘AITCH’?
You won’t find ‘haitch’ in the dictionary, only the correct spelling, ‘aitch’. The name of the letter comes from Old French ‘ache’ of the 1500s and first spelt so in English. At this time, it was pronounced “ache” or “aitch”. So, the correct pronunciation is AITCH. This might change depending on the area of country you are in, or the family background.