The Silent H in Spanish Words
A written h may look important, but Spanish normally gives it no sound. Use hola, hotel, and ahora to practise letting the surrounding vowels connect.
Learning objective
Leave the letter h silent in familiar words such as hola and hotel.
In standard Spanish pronunciation, the letter h is normally silent. Hola begins directly with its o sound, and hotel begins directly with its vowel too. You still write the h, but you do not add the strong breath heard at the start of the English word hotel.
This pattern also appears when h is inside a word. Ahora, meaning now, flows from a to o without an h sound between them. The written letter remains important for correct spelling, so the useful beginner habit is simple: see the h, remember it, and let the surrounding sounds continue.
The combination ch is different because the two letters work together. In chocolate and chico, ch has the familiar sound near the start of English cheese. This does not make h noisy everywhere; it means that ch is a separate letter combination with its own job.
Some recent loanwords, names, or brand names may keep a sound from another language, and speakers can differ in how they treat them. For ordinary Spanish vocabulary, silence is the dependable starting point. Listen to a trusted recording, repeat the whole word, and avoid forcing extra breath before the vowel.
Examples
hola
hello
Begin with the o sound; do not pronounce an English-style h.
hotel
a hotel
The Spanish word starts with its o vowel in speech.
ahora
now
The silent h lets the surrounding vowel sounds connect.
chocolate
some chocolate
Here ch works as a pair and does have a consonant sound.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- Saying hola with the strong h sound in English hello.
- Try
- Start hola with a clear Spanish o sound.
The familiar spelling can pull an English speaker toward an English habit. Spanish normally keeps this h silent, so adding breath changes the expected opening of the word. Practise by saying ola, meaning wave, and hola, meaning hello: in ordinary speech they sound alike even though they are written differently.
Practice
Try it yourself
Read hola, hotel, ahora, and hermano aloud without giving h a sound. Then read chico and chocolate, allowing the ch pair to sound. Which four words demonstrate the silent-h pattern?