You’ve probably been there. You’re sitting in a booth at a local Mexican spot, or maybe you’re practicing your Duolingo streaks late at night, and you hit a word like hola or hamburguesa. Your brain screams to make a sound. Any sound. But the truth is simpler and, honestly, a bit weirder for English speakers: you do absolutely nothing.
The Spanish letter H pronunciation is essentially a ghost. It’s a phantom limb of the language. It exists on the page to remind us of where words came from—usually Latin or Old Spanish—but it has no voice of its own in the modern world. If you try to breathe out a soft "h" sound like you do in "hello" or "house," you’ve already given yourself away as a gringo.
It’s silent. Always. Well, almost always.
The Rule That Actually Sticks
In a world of messy linguistic exceptions, the Spanish hache (that’s the name of the letter) is refreshingly consistent. Whether it is at the beginning of a word like hijo (son) or buried in the middle like alcohol (yep, same word), you skip right over it.
Think about the word hablar (to speak). It’s pronounced ah-blahr. If you say "ha-blar," you’re adding a consonant that isn’t there. The same goes for hacer (to do/make). It sounds like ah-sehr. It’s basically a placeholder.
Why is it there? Blame history. Most Spanish words starting with h actually started with an f in Latin. Hijo used to be filius. Hacer was facere. Over centuries, that "f" sound softened into a breathy "h" and then eventually evaporated into the silence we have today. We keep the letter because Spanish speakers are traditionalists, but the sound is long gone.
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The Big Exception: The CH Factor
Okay, let’s get the obvious "gotcha" out of the way. When the letter h follows a c, everything changes. The ch in Spanish is traditionally treated as its own thing. In words like chico, chocolate, or derecha, it sounds exactly like the "ch" in "cheeseburger."
You aren't pronouncing the h here; you’re pronouncing a digraph. It’s a team effort.
Words That Trip Everyone Up
Even when people know the rule, they stumble on specific words because their English-speaking brain takes the wheel.
Take hotel. In English, the "h" is the star of the show. In Spanish, it’s oh-tehl. If you walk into a lobby in Madrid and ask for a "ho-tel," they’ll know what you mean, but it’ll sound like you're wearing a neon sign that says "I’m still learning."
Then there’s huevo (egg). This one is tricky because of the "u" that follows the h. In some dialects, especially in Mexico or parts of the Caribbean, you might hear a very slight, almost imperceptible friction—sort of a "gw" sound—making it sound like gway-bo. But strictly speaking, in standard Spanish, it’s way-bo.
Zanahoria (carrot) is another classic. People see that "h" in the middle and want to pause or create a break. Don't. It’s sah-nah-oh-ryah. Just slide from the first 'a' to the 'o' like the h never existed. It’s just a decorative fence between two vowels.
The Foreign Word Problem
Here is where it gets messy. Languages aren't static. Because of the internet and global pop culture, Spanish has started "borrowing" words from English.
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When a Spanish speaker says hámster, they often do pronounce the h. But they don't use the English "h." They use the Spanish jota sound—that raspy, back-of-the-throat "h" that sounds more like you're clearing your throat.
So, hockey becomes jockey. Hacker becomes jacker.
Is this "correct" Spanish? Technically, no. The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) is the group that decides what counts as "real" Spanish, and they generally prefer words to follow Spanish phonetics. But if you're hanging out in a cafe in Buenos Aires, you're going to hear that aspirated "h" on loanwords. It’s just how the language breathes now.
Dialects and the "H" That Won't Die
If you travel to certain parts of Andalusia in southern Spain, or parts of the Caribbean like Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, you might hear people "aspirationing" their h sounds.
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In some rural areas, words that lost their "f" centuries ago still retain a tiny bit of that ghostly breath. A word like hambre (hunger) might have a tiny puff of air at the start. It’s a linguistic fossil. It’s not "standard" Spanish, but it’s real, lived language.
Most learners should ignore this. Stick to the silence. Silence is your friend.
Practical Tips for Natural Speech
To truly master the Spanish letter H pronunciation, you have to train your eyes to see through the letter.
- Read Aloud Daily: Pick a Spanish news site like El País. Find every word with an h and intentionally skip it.
- The Vowel Connection: Since the h is silent, you will often find yourself linking the previous word to the vowel following the h. For example, los hombres (the men) shouldn't have a gap. It should sound like lo-zohm-brehs. The "s" at the end of los slides right into the "o" of hombres.
- Ignore the "H" in Spelling: When you're writing, you have to remember it, which is the hardest part. Spanish kids spend years in school learning where the silent h goes because, phonetically, it makes no sense to have it there.
If you’re ever in doubt, just shut up. Literally. If you don't say the h, you are right 99% of the time. The only time you'll get it wrong is if you're talking about a hámster or a hippy, and even then, people will know exactly what you mean.
The goal isn't to be a dictionary; it's to be understood.
Your Next Steps for Mastery
Don't just read about it. Start applying it.
- Vowel Transition Drills: Practice saying ahora (now) ten times fast. Ensure there is no "h" sound, just a smooth transition from "a" to "o."
- The "J" vs "H" Test: Record yourself saying hijo (silent h) and jardín (strong j). If they sound the same at the start, you’re pronouncing the h too much.
- Visual Erasure: When reading Spanish text, use a highlighter to physically mark every h that isn't part of a ch. This trains your brain to recognize them as "silent zones."
By focusing on the vowels that follow the h, you'll naturally adopt a more rhythmic, native-sounding flow. Forget the "h" exists, and your Spanish will immediately sound 50% more authentic.