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