| H /h/ (hello) Example Words /h/ /h/ hat hot 🔊 hit hug 🔊 hope house 🔊 happy hello 🔊 help hill 🔊 hair hand 🔊 high hold 🔊 hard heart 🔊 heavy hunt 🔊 head heal 🔊 hook hazard 🔊 helmet handle 🔊 | Key Mechanics A very gentle sound → while the /h/ is called a “fricative” we are creating very little friction with the air as it comes ou The tongue is raised only slightly. In fact, if you have trouble pronouncing the /h/, it’s probably best to think of not even raising the tongue at all. A continuant An unvoiced consonant Common Error Tongue raised too high This will create a very rough, high friction sound. This is extremely common in Eastern European accents. (example words: him, her, his) 🔊 Spelling Patterns The /h/ is always spelled with an ‘h’ letter. Just be careful: not every ‘h’ letter is actually pronounced. Some ‘h’ letters are skipped / silent. Examples: heir, hour, herb, honor 🔊 |
PHRASES #1 /h/
| 1.) he held her hand tightly 🔊 | 6.) hurry home before heavy hail 🔊 |
| 2.) hope heals the hardest hearts 🔊 | 7.) he heard her humming softly 🔊 |
| 3.) Henry hugged his happy hound 🔊 | 8.) hide the hat behind this 🔊 |
| 4.) her hair hung halfway down 🔊 | 9.) Hannah hates hiking high hills 🔊 |
| 5.) hot honey helps sore throats 🔊 | 10.) he held out hope for healing 🔊 |
PHRASES #2 /h/
| 1.) handle high-volume help requests 🔊 | 6.) hone your headline writing habits 🔊 |
| 2.) host the headline webinar today 🔊 | 7.) heatmaps highlight user hover behavior 🔊 |
| 3.) high-impact headlines hook readers 🔊 | 8.) handoffs happen after heated meetings 🔊 |
| 4.) healthy habits help with hustle 🔊 | 9.) high growth hinges on habits 🔊 |
| 5.) highlight human-first hiring practices 🔊 | 10.) heuristics help handle hard problems 🔊 |
Sentences /h/
1.) He held his helmet in horror. 🔊
2.) Her horse hesitated halfway up the hill. 🔊
3.) Hannah hid behind the hedges quietly. 🔊
4.) He hurried home holding hot hashbrowns. 🔊
5.) Heavy hail hit the hardwood roof. 🔊
6.) His hoodie had holes and heat stains. 🔊
7.) Hold her hand when she’s hurt. 🔊
8.) He hummed while hiking through harsh weather. 🔊
9.) Harry heard hopeful yells near the hallway. 🔊
10.) Her hushed voice held hidden hope. 🔊
11.) High-growth hacks helped Hannah’s health brand. 🔊
12.) He hosted a high-level hiring huddle. 🔊
13.) Her hustle habits led to being highlighted on the leader board. 🔊
14.) Hot leads hovered near the homepage. 🔊
15.) Highlight helpful humans here in the header. 🔊
16.) Henry handled hundreds of help tickets. 🔊
17.) Heuristics helped halt habitual handoffs. 🔊
18.) Hourly handling hurts the hosting system. 🔊
19.) Her hasty headline hit hard this quarter. 🔊
20.) Happy hires help uphold healthy work culture. 🔊
Advanced: skipping certain H’s
If you want to save more time when speaking and you want to emulate Americans, especially when they’re speaking casually, you can opt to skip /h/ on certain words during linking (if you pause, you’ll need to say the /h/).
Keep in mind, you can only do this on certain words (her, his, him, he).
(Careful: If these words start a sentence/thought, you should never skip the /h/.)
Examples (Audio):
He showed her how to do something. > showed ’ er
She liked his car. > liked ’ is
They saw him. > saw ‘ im
Didn’t he know? > didn’t ‘ e
She had seen > she ‘ad
They have seen > they ‘ave
John has seen > John ‘as
These spellings only approximate how it would be said. Sometimes, you need to be careful because if you skip the /h/, the nature of how we should link between those words will change.
Example: She met him.
In this case, we now follow met with a word starting in a vowel instead of a consonant (‘h’), so we’ll have to make a Flap T to link between met him.
If we have a preposition (often ‘at’, ‘for’, ‘to’) before him/her, Americans will often say two versions, both of which are good. They’ll either:
- Keep the strong form of the preposition and are then likely to skip the ‘h’ (This is not a must but rather a good option to go for)
- Keep the weak form of the preposition and then usually keep the ‘h’ (again, not required)
Examples:
- I mean, look at her! (Audio)
- I mean, look at him! (Audio)
- I’m not looking for her. (Audio) (with a double R, Americans often keep the ‘h’ in both versions)
- I’m not looking for him. (Audio)
- Go to her. (Audio)
- Go to him. (Audio)
If you’d like to be on the safe side, simply keep the ‘h’.
Phrases where we can skip the /h/ (Audio)
| 1.) was he helping her | 6.) tell him his window broke |
| 2.) could her car have broken down? | 7.) Hannah saw her kiss him |
| 3.) show him what he has missed | 8.) pat her down to find her gun |
| 4.) she had fixed her truck for him | 9.) I met him at his birthday |
| 5.) is he coming to see her? | 10.) let his dog go back to him |