"H" Is Silent in Spanish
Although you will see the letter h used in Spanish words, it is not pronounced in most cases! Read on to learn more about the letter h in Spanish and why the h is usually silent in Spanish.
¡Hola!Now, when you read that word, you didn’t pronounce the h, did you? Much to the chagrin of folks named Henry, Heather, Hubert, or Helen, the letter h typically isn’t pronounced in Spanish.
First, a Bit of History
Before we fully delve into the pronunciation of the letter h, let's go back in historia(history), shall we? According to the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas(Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts), the letter h was pronounced until the 16th century. Back then, it was pronounced just like the English h. This sound is still used in certain parts of Spain, such as Andalucia(Andalusia) and las Islas Canarias(the Canary Islands).
Have we piqued your interest about different varieties of Spanish? Check out our articles on Caribbean Spanish, Castilian, and The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea, Ceuta, and Melilla.
The H is Silent in Spanish
The h should not be pronounced in most Spanish words that contain an h. This is true for words such as hueso(bone), hielo(ice), hospital(hospital), hierro(iron), hombre(man), and hotel(hotel).
This is also true for most words that have an h intercalada(h in the middle of the word). Words with a silent h intercalada include búho(owl), cohete(rocket), coherencia(coherence), inherente(intrinsic), malhechor(wrongdoer), prohibido(prohibited), and zanahoria(carrot).
Read more about how to pronounce—or not!—the letter h in our article, How to Pronounce the Letter “H” in Spanish.
Have you ever seen the ¿ola k ase? (hey, what's up?) meme? The meme is obviously an exaggeration, but it’s not uncommon to see native hispanohablantes(Spanish speakers) accidentally omit an h in their writing. Our article on the letter h gives you a handy table with tricks on how to remember when to use the letter h when writing in Spanish.
When Do I Need to Pronounce the H?
The h is pronounced in two instances: 1. loanwords and 2. when combined with the letter c.
Loanwords
The letter h is pronounced in some préstamos(loanwords) in Spanish.
A loanword is a word that has been taken from one language and adapted into another.
This happens, for example, with words that have been taken from languages in which the h was pronounced in the original word. We can see this, for example, in the words hámster(hamster), hándicap(handicap), hardware(hardware), hípster (hipster), hockey(hockey), and hot dog(hot dog).
Ch, or the Letter Formerly Known as Che
Up until the Real Academia Española(Royal Spanish Academy)—the organization that sets the rules for the Spanish language—changed the alphabet in 2010, ch was considered a letter. It was formally removed from the alphabet in late 2010, and the Spanish alphabet now consists of just 27 letters.
The Spanish ch is pronounced just like the ch in English. For example, the ch sound in chocolateis like the ch in its English translation, chocolate!
After reading this article, you may be asking yourself: “Why not just get rid of the h?” Don’t forget that the h is there for a good reason. Remember: the word hola(hello) isn’t the same as ola(wave)!
Would you like to learn about other letters? Check out the following articles!
