verb conjugations for "oler"

Question

I am learning "O to UE stem-changing verbs" and I think "oler" is very special. When it is conjugated, for example, "oler --> huelo, hueles, huele, huelen", why does it need an extra "h" in front of "ue"?

Answer 1

[Feel free to correct my English]

I am not a linguist. I had to 'google' a bit to find a proper answer.

There is an old orthographic rule according to which 'current words that begin with diphthongs “ia”, “ie”, “ue” y “ui” must be writen with an h'. Like "hiato", "hiena", "huele", "huidizo” o "huérfano".

Well, current words in 1726, when the first edition of DRAE (Diccionario de la Real Academia Española) was published.

Source consulted

Google makes us all linguists when we need to be! Thanks for this very concise answer. - Jubilado, Aug 16, 2013

Fabulous! You found the answer for me! Muchas gracias! And thanks for offering me the source though it's all Spanish. - joygogo, Aug 16, 2013

Answer 2

I think it is because there are no words in Spanish that begin with the 2 letters "U" "E". I couldn't find any, let me know if you do. I mean words not abbreviations.

Me either.... - rac1, Aug 16, 2013

That's true. - 003492fc, Aug 16, 2013

Answer 3

I don't either. :-(

But, don't get all out of shape about it.... it will effectively stuck you up.

:-D